Many people shared frustrations with the housing system as a whole and the way that delays in other areas, such as the lack of readiness to address housing supply, were driving homelessness. Some spoke of hearing government commit for years to building and delivering hundreds of new houses in their region, with none of these commitments materialising. People also raised the lack of infrastructure, including council failures to upgrade infrastructure or roll out the necessary infrastructure for new development. “We’re another 2-5 years away from proper housing – they haven’t even started building.” [Housing/benefit advocate] Some people shared their feeling that the whole emergency housing system is broken and cannot be fixed. Others perceived there was a lack of system action or support to stop people getting to the point where they need emergency housing. “If you want to manage homelessness, transitional housing will do that. If you want to end homelessness, focus on supply and the whole system. Catch people before they hit the system and help them sustain tenancies. Find out where to allocate resources, like spending on Accommodation Supplement instead of Special Needs Grants.” [Social housing and social service provider/homelessness advocate] Long-term impacts on those who have been through the system The initiatives within the emergency housing system are intended as temporary measures, with a goal of supporting people through housing insecurity and back into sustainable long-term solutions. However, it was clear from what we heard that in practice this is often not the case. Not only is this housing often much more long-term than intended, but it can also create or exacerbate problems that affect people after they have left the system. “Living day to day in a very dysfunctional housing system creates trauma that’s contributed to by the system… It seems like the relationship between poor housing and overcrowding, and family harm, is not clearly understood by government.” [Transitional housing provider with significant background in social services] Many people shared the serious impacts that living in emergency accommodation or transitional housing had on their mental health. Some told us they felt like no one cared, including their case managers or other support workers. “My case managers have laughed at me and called me stupid and useless… I started counselling because my case managers and all these housing providers have been making me feel like a failure, useless and a depressed mother. I’ve bottled all this bullcrap up. Just Friday gone I told my case manager, ‘People like you are the reasons why people like me want to kill ourselves!’ He said ‘have a good day.’” [Resident in emergency accommodation] “I was so brutalised by the experience I contemplated suicide.” [Resident in a social housing complex under contract to MSD (the Community Housing Provider Programme)] “I felt [the provider] exhibited no consideration for my well-being, safety, stress levels, and anxiety… I am still mentally scared and traumatized by this experience.” [Former resident of emergency and then transitional housing] Advocates reiterated the potential impacts of staying long-term in emergency accommodation or transitional housing, including mental health issues, isolation, and shame. They told us how difficult it is for people to cope with no support, no visitors, and often no access to social services. The fragmented approach to delivering services such as mental health support or alcohol or drug addiction treatment was a common theme. 35