Victoria Crockford, co-director of the Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness and former CEO of Community Housing Aotearoa, closely followed the Move-on Orders Bill as it progressed through Parliament last week and says the debate highlighted serious concerns about how homelessness is being addressed in Aotearoa.
The Summary Offences (Move-on Orders) Amendment Bill passed its remaining stages under urgency, with its third reading completed on Friday. The legislation gives Police new powers to order people engaging in specified disorderly or disruptive behaviour in public places to leave an area and stay away for a set period.
The Government says the legislation is designed to give Police better tools to deal with low-level public disorder, improve public safety and prevent disruptive behaviour from escalating, particularly around retail and hospitality areas.
But for homelessness advocates such as Irwin, the concern is what happens when those powers intersect with people who are already living without secure housing.
The original Bill specifically included begging and rough sleeping among the behaviours covered by the proposed regime, prompting strong opposition from organisations working with homeless people, rangatahi and vulnerable whānau.
Waatea has been following those concerns throughout the legislation’s progress. A coalition of 18 organisations has instead called for urgent action to get people sleeping rough into safe accommodation, arguing that homelessness needs housing and intensive social support rather than simply shifting people from one public space to another.
More than 4,700 people also backed an open letter opposing the legislation during the campaign against the changes.
For Irwin and other advocates, the debate is now moving from Parliament to the streets. With the legislation through its third reading, attention will turn to how the new powers are implemented and whether vulnerable people experiencing homelessness are connected with housing and support — or simply moved somewhere else.
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