Cities flying blind on homelessness crisis

Zero city councils regularly collecting local homelessness data and trends 

While city councils across Aotearoa New Zealand are not currently regularly collecting and monitoring consistent data on homelessness, there is an encouraging appetite from some councils to do more to understand homelessness in their city.   

In the absence of formal data collection practices, Auckland, New Plymouth, and Napier City Councils are consulting third-party organisations and providers to gain some understanding of the level of need in their cities.   

In response to our OIA requests, other city councils around the motu have expressed interest in strengthening their data approach. We encourage and support these efforts as it would be valuable to have more coordinated and consistent data regarding homelessness at a local level across Aotearoa New Zealand.  

Data source: OIA declines, no data held by local City Councils