Ending homelessness in New Zealand: Housing First

Over 6000 people are without any accommodation every night in New Zealand and over 40,000 lack safe secure accommodation.

The consequences of homelessness exact a high cost to this country both in economic and human terms. Based on robust international evidence, a ‘Housing First’ approach has been shown to provide the best environment for addressing the often complex needs of hard to reach groups. In this innovative programme, housing is unconditional. It is not ‘earned’ by compliance, rather it is a ‘right’; treatments are made available but uptake is voluntary. This approach shifts service engagement from a forced chore, to a self-rewarding pathway. It is a paradigm shift that maximises the benefits from modern engagement services. Security of tenure provides the stability that enables participants to contribute positively to their community, society and the economy, with rising incomes and higher quality of life a common outcome across Housing First studies. The success of the Housing First approach has displaced long held assumptions about people who have complex needs, reaffirmed the importance of housing, and helped to consolidate the link between evidence and practice.

This five-year research programme, funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, evaluated the implementation of ‘Housing First’ in New Zealand. It was conducted in partnership with the National Institute for Demographic and Economic Analysis (NIDEA) at the University of Waikato, and The People's Project in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. It included streams on; Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Housing First, the implementation of Housing First in Aotearoa, LGBTIQ+ people's experiences of homelessness, adverse childhood experiences and lost points of intervention in pathways to homelessness, debt amongst people housed by The People's Project, and quantitative evaluations of the changes in government service interactions up to five years' post-housing for the first 400 people housed by The People's Project.

For more information, please contact Jenny Ombler [email protected]

Recent News

The Housing First model has taken around 1000 people off the street and put them into houses in Hamilton and Auckland in the last three years. Please watch Finding a home (Newshub).

Research Outputs

  • Aspinall, C. (2024). The Evolution of Housing First in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Renegotiation of Relationships [Doctoral, University of Otago].
  • Aspinall C, Ombler J, Pierse, N, Howden-Chapman P. (2017). "One Housing First to Rule Them All?": Responding to Housing First in Aotearoa. Parity, 30(8), 30-31.
  • Fraser, B. (2020). “We Can’t Find a Safe or Secure Environment to be Ourselves": Takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ Homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand [Doctoral, University of Otago]. https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/handle/10523/11920
  • Fraser, B., Chisholm, E., & Pierse, N. (2021). “You’re so powerless”: Takatāpui/LGBTIQ + people’s experiences before becoming homeless in Aotearoa New Zealand. PLoS ONE, 16(12), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259799
  • Fraser, B., Chisholm, E., & Pierse, N. (2022). A Failed Attempt at Participatory Video With Takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ People Who Had Experienced Homelessness. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221103663
  • Fraser, B., Chisholm, E., & Pierse, N. (2023). Takatāpui/LGBTIQ + People’s Experiences of Homelessness and Sex Work in Aotearoa New Zealand. Anti-Trafficking Review, 20, 14–32. https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201223202
  • Fraser, B., Chisholm, E., & Pierse, N. (2024a). “Eventually it Just Hit Like a Tonne of Bricks:” Life After Homelessness Amongst Takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ People in Aotearoa New Zealand. International Journal on Homelessness, 4(2), 42–61. https://doi.org/10.5206/ijoh.2023.3.16588
  • Fraser, B., Chisholm, E., & Pierse, N. (2024b). “There’s no room for falling apart:” Takatāpui/LGBTIQ + people’s experiences of homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sexual and Gender Diversity in Social Services, 36(3), 379–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538720.2023.2253431
  • Fraser, B., Chun, S., Pehi, T., Jiang, T., Johnson, E., Ombler, J., McMinn, C., & Pierse, N. (2023). Post-housing first outcomes amongst a cohort of formerly homeless youth in Aotearoa New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 53(5), 656–672. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2022.2088572
  • Fraser, B., Pierse, N., Chisholm, E., & Cook, H. (2019). LGBTIQ+ Homelessness: A Review of the Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(15), 2677. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152677
  • Fraser, B., White, M., Cook, H., Chisholm, E., Ombler, J., Chun, S., Tareha, H., & Pierse, N. (2021). Service usage of a cohort of formerly homeless women in Aotearoa New Zealand. SSM - Population Health, 15, 100842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100842
  • Lawson-Te Aho, K., Fariu-ariki, P. F., Ombler, J., Aspinall, C., Howden-Chapman, P., & Pierse, N. (2019). A principles framework for taking action on Māori/Indigenous Homelessness in Aotearoa/New Zealand. SSM - Population Health, 8(July), 100450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100450
  • McMinn, C. (2021). Lost Points of Intervention in Pathways to Single Adult Homelessness in Hamilton, New Zealand [Doctoral, The University of Waikato].  https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2024.2366932
  • McMinn, C., Collins, D., Atatoa-Carr, P., & Oetzel, J. (2024). Adverse childhood experiences in a pathway to single adult homelessness in Hamilton, New Zealand. Housing Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2024.2366932
  • Ombler, J., Atatoa-Carr, P., Nelson, J., Howden-Chapman, P., Lawson Te-Aho, K., Fariu-Ariki, P., Cook, H., Aspinall, C., Fraser, B., McMinn, C., Shum, R. F., & Pierse, N. (2017). Ending homelessness in New Zealand: Housing first research programme [Update]. Parity, 30(10), 5–7.
  • Ombler, J., Jiang, T., Fraser, B., Nelson, J., McMinn, C., Hawkes, K., Atatoa Carr, P., Pehi, T., Aspinall, C., Bierre, S., Schick, K., Howden-Chapman, P., & Pierse, N. (2024). Five-Year Post-Housing Outcomes for a Housing First Cohort in Aotearoa, New Zealand. International Journal on Homelessness, 1–17.  https://doi.org/10.5206/ijoh.2023.3.16747
  • Pierse, N., Ombler, J., Chun, S., Fraser, B., White, M., Aspinall, C., McMinn, C., Howden-Chapman, P., Nelson, J., Hawkes, K., Jiang, T., & Atatoa-Carr, P. (2022). Two-Year Post-Housing Outcomes for a Housing First Cohort in Aotearoa New Zealand. European Journal of Homelessness, 16(2), 121–144. https://www.feantsaresearch.org/public/user/Observatory/2022/EJH_16-2/EJH_16-2_A5.pdf
  • Pierse, N., Ombler, J., White, M., Aspinall, C., McMinn, C., Atatoa-Carr, P., Nelson, J., Hawkes, K., Fraser, B., Cook, H., & Howden-Chapman, P. (2019). Service usage by a New Zealand Housing First cohort prior to being housed. SSM - Population Health, 8(June), 100432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100432 
  • Shum, R. (2022). Investigating the New Zealand Government’s Understanding of Homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand 2008-2018: A Systematic Review of Grey Literature. New Zealand Population Review, 48, 7–45. https://population.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZPR-Vol-48_Shum.pdf
  • Shum, R. F. (2021). Understandings of Homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand and how they Impact a Local Response: A Case Study of The People’s Project in Hamilton [Doctoral, University of Waikato].

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