Work underway to establish rights for emergency housing residents must be accelerated, says Community Law Centres o Aotearoa (CLCA).

“The issues aired on last night’s Sunday programme are all too familiar to Community Law Centres and their clients,” says CLCA CEO Sue Moroney. “That’s why we have spent two years convincing MSD to create standards that contains rights for those using those emergency housing services.”

“Handing over millions of dollars of taxpayer funding to private providers without any requirement for a decent level of service and basic human rights to be adhered to is unacceptable. Families need to be protected when they are at their most vulnerable.”

“Five months ago, we finally had a breakthrough with MSD and work has begun on establishing those rights and standards – it now needs to be accelerated by Government.”

Similar work has been undertaken for residents of transitional housing by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, but two years later the standards are still not in force.

“At our annual hui last week, Community Law Centres reported a noticeable increase in unfair ans short-notice evictions.It’s frustrating to see timelines for this vital work being delayed time and time again. Because of the vulnerability of those using these services, it needs to be prioritised.” says Sue.

Community Law Centres have supported clients all over Aotearoa who have been placed into unsafe emergency housing and others who have been treated unfairly by providers, including Visions in Rotorua. The issue is particularly evident in Rotorua because of the intensity of emergency housing in a small area.

Emergency and transitional housing tenants were exempted from the Residential Tenancies Act when it was amended in 2020, meaning that they do not have the rights or complaints processes that other tenants have.

“The Ministry of Social Development has a duty to ensure its clients are protected by basic rights. It also has a duty towards taxpayers, to ensure they are getting value for money,” says Sue.

CLCA has requested that MSD has a standard contract for emergency housing providers before the release of any funds to them and that they have an accreditation process for any providers they suggest to their clients for emergency housing, along with an accessible complaints procedure. Once established, the contracts must be terminated where standards are repeatedly breached.

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