Homelessness is not inevitable. It is preventable and solvable.
Everyone needs a place to call home
Having a safe, secure and affordable home is fundamental to our health, wellbeing and sense of belonging. Homelessness happens when people and whānau are unable to access or maintain safe and secure housing. It is rarely the result of a single event or circumstance. Rather, it reflects the interaction of housing pressures, poverty, discrimination, personal circumstances and the systems intended to support people. Understanding what drives homelessness, where it can be prevented and what works to end it helps us make better decisions about how we respond.
What is homelessness?
Homelessness is more than rough sleeping
Homelessness takes many forms, and much of it is less visible than we might think. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Statistics New Zealand identifies four broad categories of homelessness:
- Without shelter: People sleeping rough, living in vehicles or other places not intended for habitation.
- Temporary accommodation: People staying in emergency or transitional
accommodation, motels or boarding houses because they have nowhere else to live. - Sharing accomodation: People staying with others because they have no housing of their own.
- Uninhabitable housing: People living in housing that does not meet basic standards of habitability.
While these experiences look different, they share a common feature: the absence of safe, secure and appropriate housing.
Why does homelessness happen?
Homelessness is shaped by circumstances and systems
There is no single cause of homelessness.
A shortage of affordable housing, low incomes, rising living costs and discrimination can make it difficult for people to find and keep a home. Experiences such as family violence, relationship breakdowns, health challenges, loss of employment or leaving institutional care can increase someone’s risk of homelessness. But these experiences do not inevitably lead to homelessness. Whether someone becomes homeless can depend on the availability of housing, the support they can access and how effectively different systems respond.
This means homelessness is not simply an individual issue. It is also shaped by the way our housing, health, justice, welfare and other systems operate, and how well they work together.
Māori are over-represented in homelessness statistics. This reflects the ongoing effects of colonisation, the loss of whenua and discrimination in housing, not any failing of whānau Māori. It is why solutions grounded in both Te Ao Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi with Māori leadership.
Connecting the dots across systems
Homelessness does not exist in isolation.
People experiencing homelessness frequently interact with public systems, including hospitals, mental health services, corrections, income support and housing services.
These interactions create opportunities to recognise housing insecurity, provide support and prevent homelessness.
However, when systems operate separately, people can experience gaps in support, particularly when moving between services or leaving institutions.
Understanding these connections is essential to preventing homelessness, rather than responding only after someone has lost their home.
Our National Homelessness Data Project brings together evidence from across government and community services to better understand these connections and identify opportunities for more coordinated responses.
Explore our research: Joining the Dots – Homelessness data across government systems.
Homelessness is preventable and solvable
Homelessness is not an inevitable feature of our communities.
Preventing homelessness means identifying housing insecurity early, ensuring people have access to affordable housing and income, and providing support before a housing crisis occurs.
For people already experiencing homelessness, Housing First is an evidence-based approach that prioritises access to permanent housing alongside flexible, ongoing support.
But lasting change requires more than responding to homelessness once it occurs.
It requires housing, health, justice, welfare and community services to work together, recognise their shared responsibilities and address the conditions that place people at risk of losing their homes.
Everyone deserves a safe, secure place to call home. Preventing and ending homelessness is possible when housing, support and public systems work together.
