De Paul boss: We need a cross-party solution for homelessness

Jan Rutledge said the Catholic agency, which provides housing and support services for homeless families, has seen a noticeable increase in homelessness on Auckland’s North Shore.

Now that now there are no-cause evictions, a landlord can simply end a tenancy, Ms Rutledge noted.

“We’re seeing quite a lot of that. We had a family come to us with two kids, mum and dad. They were staying in Glenfield Mall’s car park, just across the road from Work and Income,” Ms Rutledge said.

While rents have fallen in some areas, North Shore tenants are still paying top dollar, she added.

“You’re not talking quality accommodation for $700-800 a week,” said Ms Rutledge.

“To be homeless on the North Shore is a completely different experience to what you might see in the CBD or even out south [Auckland]. There’s a real lack of agencies here.”

The Government has drastically reduced the number of families in emergency housing, but demand for state homes remains high. As of May 2025, 19,089 people were waiting for a Kāinga Ora home. Almost half were Māori. On average, people will be on the waitlist for 233 days, which leaves advocates wondering where they live before being housed.

Ms Rutledge called for a cross-party agreement on how to tackle what support services are labelling a “national crisis” of homelessness.

“We can’t keep flip-flopping from one government policy to the next, and we need to have a solution across the whole of the country,” she said.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop has celebrated moving the vulnerable into social houses and private rentals from emergency motels or the street.

“We are making progress, but obviously there’s a long way to go,” he said. “We want to see lower house prices, lower rents. We want to see less people in housing deprivation.”

De Paul House is an agency of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland. It was established in 1986 following concerns about the growing problem of homelessness.

FULL STORY

Homeless person ‘froze to death’; family living in mall car park amid national ‘crisis’ (By Ruwani Perera/Stuff)