the current transitional housing accreditation
requirements, and social service provider
practices, lead to an outcome where transitional
housing providers are more likely overall than
commercial accommodation suppliers receiving
emergency housing grant funding, to meet their
human rights requirements.
The failure to meet this immediate obligation
is exacerbated by inadequate government
management and oversight over emergency
accommodation and commercial suppliers,
and the lack of complaint mechanisms or
enforcement options for upholding the standards
that exist in transitional housing. MSD does not
have any adequate accountability mechanisms to
ensure that emergency accommodation funded
by the emergency housing grant meets these
immediate human rights requirements. This is a
serious failure in the Government’s emergency
housing response.
Immediate obligation 2: Do not evict
anyone into homelessness
The right to a decent home includes an obligation
not to evict anyone into homelessness. This
obligation is imperative in the context of the
emergency housing system.
We are concerned that commercial
accommodation suppliers paid through
the emergency housing grant initiative are
permitted to operate inconsistently with this
obligation. These suppliers are entitled to evict
an emergency accommodation resident if they
consider they have broken rules of stay or are no
longer welcome, even if this will result in a person
becoming homeless.
Many people in the emergency housing system,
both in emergency accommodation and
transitional housing, have complex social issues
that require active understanding and support
to resolve. We have observed that commercial
accommodation suppliers are significantly less
well equipped to deal with these issues, and this
bears upon eviction processes.
We also note that some transitional housing
providers, as well as commercial providers of
emergency accommodation, have rules of stay
that allow them to evict a resident without being
required to find alternative accommodation.
Our finding on immediate obligation 2
We find this obligation is not being met and as
a result Government is in breach of the right to a
decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Some commercial accommodation suppliers
delivering emergency accommodation, and
some transitional housing providers, have
eviction processes that allow them to evict into
homelessness.
Even when government is providing emergency
housing via commercial or private providers, its
human rights obligation not to evict anyone into
homelessness still applies. The fact that providers
delivering emergency housing can evict someone
without requiring them to make alternative
arrangements, means government is failing to
meet this immediate obligation.
Overall finding on these first two
immediate human rights obligations
The emergency housing system is failing to deliver
government’s immediate human rights obligations
to provide emergency housing that meets minimum
decency standards and other key features of the
right to a decent home, and not to evict anyone into
homelessness. This failure results in a breach of
the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o
Waitangi.
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