needs, including drug or alcohol issues or poor mental health, and that the system can exacerbate those problems because of stress, inadequate support, and environments that foster dysfunction. “We know there’s another side to the story, some whānau do play up. But to me it’s unacceptable to put someone on the streets.” [Former transitional housing provider] Providers who operate in the social service space and/or offer kaupapa Māori services were much more likely to have the experience and capacity to create alternatives to immediate eviction, as one strand of supporting residents towards long-term positive outcomes. However, as many people acknowledged, moteliers are neither landlords nor social service providers. “Motels are just there to make money… They need to allow community services in there, but [some motels] don’t want social services onsite. They don’t want to take responsibility and nobody can tell them what to do. If we can’t build houses then [at least] build motels that are proper social service providers, with support, safety, and proper facilities.” [Housing and benefit advocate] Lack of transparency, accountability, and independent complaint mechanisms Many people who contacted us talked about the lack of transparency, accountability, and independent complaint mechanisms in the emergency housing system, both in emergency accommodation and transitional housing. Complaints about housing providers The frustration of not having complaints followed up was a common theme from current or former residents in the emergency housing system. Multiple people told us that providers had no complaint processes and would either ignore complaints or not handle them appropriately. Similarly, they reported complaints to government agencies were not consistently followed up. “I did request to release my file information twice, and never received a response to both requests.” [Former resident of emergency and then transitional housing] “I made many complaints about the culture at [emergency provider] and [transitional provider] regarding security, clients, staff, structure, bullying and tenancy. Nothing was ever done! I wrote one complaint [only] for it to be shared to the person I wrote about. I also made many complaints to [my local WINZ office] and WINZ 0800 number only to be told by the provider not to ever call WINZ they do nothing. Never-ending calls and complaints to Social Development, but no call back and/ or anything ever done about them.” [Former resident of emergency accommodation] Many people told us about their frustrations with motel-based emergency accommodation and moteliers who they felt were not held to minimum standards or made responsible for any problems, even when they received significant funding. Common themes included moteliers refusing to fix broken or damaged amenities, and the impact this could have on clients who were already struggling financially. “I’ve been charged over 200 and something dollars for two chairs that were worth $50 and they were fixable because I’ve seen them mend them up before. We’ve had to go without a fridge for two weeks because the owner and receptionist wouldn’t replace our broken one from wear and tear. They told me it’s not broken even though my food was rotten from it. After constant complaints it was finally replaced with no food in it and I had to battle with my case manager for a food grant.” [Resident in emergency accommodation] 31