1. Improving data on homelessness in New Zealand
Working group session with Councils
23 August 2018

2. Ending homelessness in New Zealand
Official definition
Living situations where people with no other options to acquire safe and secure housing are:
without shelter
in temporary accommodation
sharing accommodation with a household
living in uninhabitable housing
When we talk about homelessness we use this official definition developed in 2009 by Statistics NZ, Housing NZ and MSD.
MSD is working to improve the data we have on all four categories.

3. Ending homelessness in New Zealand
The Government’s vision is that all individuals, families and whānau have healthy, secure and affordable homes that meet their needs
Key actions include:
increasing public housing supply
expanding the Housing First programme
increasing transitional housing places
providing emergency housing
sustaining tenancies
improving data collected on the homeless population
The government has made ending homelessness one of its priorities for housing.
Improving data is one of a range of responses across the housing continuum.
E.g. MBIE is modernising tenancy rules and increasing the supply of affordable private housing.
[The new Ministry of Housing and Urban Development will start operating on 1 October. It will bring together the housing policy teams and other housing functions from MSD and MBIE. This will help to make sure that all work across all of the housing and urban development portfolio is well aligned.]

4. What do we already know about homelessness?
Some information is already collected on homelessness in New Zealand:
41,000 people were homeless in 2013
1,400 of those were living without shelter
Data and anecdotal evidence tells us is that the number of homeless people in New Zealand continues to increase
There are limitations with our current measures
Census data currently gives us the best estimate.
Dr Kate Amore from the University of Otago is NZ’s expert at using Census data to measure homelessness. She estimated that in 2013 there were 41,000 people who were homeless. 1,400 of those were living without shelter.
The total homeless population had increased by 26 percent since 2006.
Anecdotal evidence from housing providers and others in the sector tell us that the total continues to increase.
Certainly this is supported by MSD data on the use of transitional and emergency housing. The Social Housing register of people waiting for public housing reflects increasing demand. The number of applicants reached it highest level in the last quarter.
So we all know homelessness is increasing but we don’t really understand the full scale.
Our data has too many limitations and gaps. For example
we can only update the census estimate every five years. While it tells us a lot about the characteristics ,it doesn’t provide any insights into the duration or drivers of homelessness.
Various counts of without shelter populations have been done, but with different approaches so there is no consistency of data.
MSD data only captures people who engage with MSD or the providers we contract.

5. Why do we need better data on homelessness?
We need comprehensive and up to date data to:
understand the scale of homelessness
know what is working, and what we need to do differently
develop targeted interventions to reduce homelessness
prevent homelessness from occurring
The type of data that would be helpful:
the number of people who are homeless
characteristics of the homeless population
duration of homelessness
drivers of homelessness
The Stocktake of New Zealand’s Housing (2018) noted that better systems to measure and monitor the homeless population would be a first step towards better support.

6. Actions to improve data on homelessness
Official estimate of the full homeless population following a Census
Dr Kate Amore, University of Otago, has been contracted to produce an official estimate of the full homeless population using 2018 Census and provider data
2018 estimate will be produced when census data is released (2019)
Estimate will include people living in uninhabitable accommodation
Estimate of the temporary accommodation, sharing accommodation and uninhabitable housing categories
Investigating ways to estimate these categories between each Census with Statistics NZ
Regular count of the without shelter category  
Covers people living on the street and in improvised dwellings (including living in a car)
Investigating options for counting the without shelter category of the homeless population
Advice to Minister on options in October 2018
Approach, locations, frequency to be determined
Earlier in the year the Minister agreed that we investigate three actions.
1. Contracting Kate Amore to build on her previous work and produce a new estimate of the full homeless population using census data. It will be an official estimate, meaning its produced by a govt dept. and it will be able to be repeated after every Census. This estimate will be the first to include people living in uninhabitable housing after census questions were added around access to basic amenities. The timing depends on the availability of Census data– at this stage its looking like mid 2019.
2. Estimating the population in temp accommodation, sharing accommodation and in uninhabitable housing. The purpose of this is to have data updated more frequently than at five year intervals. Because we’ve just had a census, we’ll start working with Statistics NZ next year on different options.
3. Investigating a count of the without shelter category. A regular count would be in addition to the Census estimate and provide another measure of the size of this population. It could also provide that much fuller picture than the census, because it would be possible to collect information, like duration and drivers of homelessness. We working towards providing advice to the Minister in October.

7. Stakeholder input into without shelter count options
Advice for the Minister to be informed by stakeholders
A regular without shelter count is likely to require significant involvement at a local level to plan and deliver
We need input from Councils, housing providers, community organisations, researchers and others on:
what is the level of support across New Zealand for a regular count?
what data/information would best support central government, local government, provider and community responses to homelessness?
what roles could different organisations have in planning and delivering a count?
what approach might work best in New Zealand?
Advice to Minister on options in October 2018
Information on people living without shelter can inform local responses - and typically requires significant local involvement to plan and deliver.
We want to develop options that work for the range of agencies and organisations with an interest in ending homelessness.
Your input will be contribute to our advice to the Minister in October. We will reflect your views along with those of other stakeholders, like housing and support providers, researchers and other govt departments.
Next steps will depend on the decisions the Minister makes.

8. How the day will run Three sessions
Information on the without shelter population – what would be most useful and how could it be used to better respond to homelessness?
What approach might work best in New Zealand?
What are the options for the roles central government, councils and other organisations could play in planning and delivering a count?

9. Information on the without shelter population
What information do you already have and what are the gaps?
What sort of information would be most useful, and how often would it need to be updated?
How could information be used by your council and by other organisations you work with?
What might the main challenges of collecting regular information be – how could we overcome them?
What you told us in the survey
Councils have information from:
service providers
outreach
tally/observation of people who are rough sleeping
point in time count with survey
MSD (emergency and transitional housing, housing register)
Data could be useful for informing/supporting:
Council strategies and plans
policy and funding discussions
expansion of the Housing First programme
public safety and community issues
Some of the challenges include:
ensuring effort doesn’t outweigh the benefit
privacy issues
the definition of without shelter
funding and resources for a count
housing supply
availability of mental health and addiction services
public opinion
gaining trust in the process/convincing people to share their information