15304 (2025). Tamatha Paul to the Associate Minister of Housing

15304 (2025). Tamatha Paul to the Associate Minister of Housing: How many children, if any, have been moved out of temporary accommodation without permanent accommodation available within the last 12 months?

Hon Tama Potaka: I am advised by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) that it does not hold data on the place of residence of children at the time clients apply for emergency housing (EH), only of primary applicants. The number of children in a client’s care is declared at the time that each individual Emergency Housing Grant (EHG) is applied for. In some cases, children may have alternative or alternating living arrangements and may not necessarily be living in EH for the entire duration of the household’s stay. Accordingly, MSD is unable to identify how many children are in a client’s care at the time the client leaves EH. Information about the number of households in EH with children included at time of application is available in MSD’s monthly housing reporting, which is available here: www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/housing/monthly-housing-reporting.html. In April 2024, government established the Priority One social housing fast-track for households with children who had resided in EH for longer than 12-weeks. As of 28 February 2025, the fast-track had supported 951 households including 2,019 children out of EH into stable social housing tenancies. The total number of children living in emergency housing has reduced from 3,216 in January 2024 to 342 at the end of January 2025, a 90 per cent decrease.