Healthy Housing – He Kainga Oranga

Measuring Homelessness

Developing a methodology for counting the homeless population staying in emergency and temporary accommodation

This study is supported by the Statistics New Zealand Official Statistics Research Programme and Housing New Zealand Corporation.

There are no statistics on the size or characteristics of the homeless population in New Zealand.  This project aims to develop a methodology for measuring the size and characteristics of the largest part of the homeless population – those who are staying in a form of emergency or temporary accommodation – using administrative and Census data.

The study involves a nationwide survey of non-government organisations providing temporary accommodation, as well as analysis of 2001 and 2006 Census data.

This study is part of a larger project on homelessness that will also investigate rough sleeping and temporary accommodation at marae.