My Perspective: Government cost cuts shouldn't cost lives

We should not take pride in cost-saving measures that leave people out in the cold.

Homelessness used to be rare, but earlier this month, an interview on The Hui told of a homeless person in South Auckland who froze to death and a family, two parents, two kids, sleeping in their car at the Glenfield Mall car park.

In Māngere, we hear of another form of housing instability: overcrowding. A family with eight children, and the children sleeping on couches in the lounge. In a country that makes enough food to feed 14 million people, we are seeing more people sleeping rough and in vulnerable housing situations.

Something is wrong here. Over the weekend, Jack Tame, host of TVNZ's Q&A, spoke with Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka, who repeatedly sidestepped any responsibility for what many community providers are calling a homelessness crisis.

Potaka repeatedly leaned on the phrase, “a range of factors”, to explain homelessness without acknowledging the role of political decisions made under his watch. When asked how Government policy might have contributed to the rise in homelessness, he didn't know.

Why? Because they're not tracking that information. What he did know was the cost. $1 million a day to make sure people had a roof over their heads. That was in November 2021, when almost 5,000 households were living in emergency housing motels.

It followed a year of lockdowns when rough sleepers were rounded up and placed in motels under different restriction levels. The problem was compounded by a lack of available housing and an increasing number of families forced to sleep in their cars.

Then, in January, the government proudly announced that it had reached its emergency housing target five years ahead of schedule. The number of households in emergency housing motels had then dropped to 591, but how did they achieve this?

By making it harder to get on the emergency housing list in the first place. Introducing new criteria that require applicants to prove they didn't contribute to their situation. How convenient, then, for the Government to claim success, not by solving homelessness, but by narrowing the doorway in.

Watch Khalia Strong’s perspective below.

How convenient it is to enjoy the silence of communities who are too busy trying to survive to speak out. As our homes grow more overcrowded and our hospitals overflow with illness made worse by poor living conditions, it feels hollow to celebrate saving millions on emergency housing.

What is the real cost when people are treated like price tags? As a society, we can be better than this. We can vote for policies that prioritise human dignity. I take my hat off to our churches and community providers who continue to offer food, clothing and emotional support to those struggling the most.

We can be part of a community that cares because when governments stop counting the cost to people, it's up to us to remember their worth.

That’s My Perspective.