29139 (2026). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Associate Minister of Housing

29139 (2026). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Associate Minister of Housing: Does he stand by his statement at the Social Services and Community Committee on 17 June 2026 that the data in the Homelessness Insights report is "variable" and "not tier one data", and which specific data sources in that report does he consider unreliable?

Hon Tama Potaka: Yes. People living without shelter can be very transient and their circumstances may change from night to night. This combined with a history of trauma that leaves many with a distrust in authority, means that it can be very difficult to quantify this group.   Previously severe housing deprivation (SHD) data was derived from the Census. While the SHD data from the census had many advantages, it also had scope for being strengthened by the addition of other sources, including administrative data. Going forward, we do not currently have one regular national measure of the number of people living without shelter or overall homelessness. In the absence of this, HUD produce the six-monthly Homelessness Insights report, which is a collation of the available administrative data and observations (for example counts of rough sleeping) from homelessness service providers around the country. The intention of this is to give an up to date, targeted sense of the trends occurring. Even though this data does not have the consistency and coverage of the SHD measures, the collated data used in the Homelessness Insights report is still useful. The different data sources are not standardised, and they have various strengths and weaknesses, so it is important to check the description of the figures, the dates and time periods they cover and the footnotes. Much of the data is limited to a) those who are currently accessing certain services or b) those who are visibly present in specific areas that are monitored by council staff or social service providers. Until more robust, regular data measures are available, the data in this report should continue to be treated as indicative and interpreted with appropriate caution.