Green Party MP for Wellington Central Tamatha Paul says tougher policing measures targeting rough sleepers risk criminalising homelessness rather than addressing the deeper social and economic causes driving people onto the streets.
Paul, of Ngāti Awa and Waikato Tainui, has emerged as one of Parliament’s strongest advocates for housing-led solutions, strongly opposing policies such as move-on orders that allow authorities to direct homeless people away from public spaces.
She says enforcement-focused approaches may temporarily move visible homelessness out of sight but do little to resolve the underlying issues of housing shortages, poverty, mental health challenges and addiction.
The debate comes as homelessness pressures continue growing across major centres including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with frontline organisations reporting increasing demand for emergency accommodation, food support and outreach services.
Paul says recent Government changes to emergency housing and public housing policy are contributing to rising hardship for vulnerable whānau already struggling with the cost of living and limited access to stable housing.
Housing advocates have raised concerns that tighter emergency housing criteria and reductions in motel accommodation support are leaving more people at risk of sleeping rough or living in unsafe temporary situations.
Paul argues homelessness should be treated primarily as a housing issue rather than a public order problem, warning punitive approaches can deepen trauma and push people further away from support services.
Critics of her position say councils and police still need tools to maintain public safety and respond to anti-social behaviour in city centres and transport hubs.
Paul says concerns around safety are legitimate but believes homelessness itself should not be conflated with criminality. She says responses must distinguish between genuine offending and the visibility of poverty in public spaces.
She argues long-term public safety is more effectively achieved through stable housing, mental health support, addiction services and stronger community-based care systems.
Māori remain disproportionately represented in homelessness statistics, reflecting wider inequities linked to housing affordability, income insecurity, colonisation and systemic disadvantage.
Paul says any serious attempt to eliminate homelessness must include large-scale public and transitional housing investment alongside kaupapa Māori solutions led by Māori communities themselves.
She says a comprehensive housing-led strategy would include rapid expansion of state housing, stronger tenant protections, wraparound support services and sustained investment into prevention rather than crisis management.
International evidence from countries using Housing First models has shown stable housing combined with support services can significantly reduce chronic homelessness and improve long-term wellbeing outcomes.
Paul believes New Zealand could dramatically reduce visible street homelessness within a relatively short timeframe if political priorities shifted toward large-scale housing investment and coordinated national action.
However, she says lasting change will require governments to treat housing as essential social infrastructure rather than relying heavily on market-based solutions alone.
The issue is expected to remain a major political battleground as pressure grows over housing affordability, urban inequality and visible homelessness in city centres across Aotearoa.
#TamathaPaul #Homelessness #HousingCrisis #PublicHousing #Wellington #MāoriHousing #HousingFirst #NZPolitics #Aotearoa #RadioWaatea #SocialHousing #WhānauOra
