New police powers allowing officers to move on rough sleepers are masking New Zealand's deeper homelessness problem rather than addressing root causes, according to research published in The Conversation. The policy shift comes as housing affordability reaches crisis levels across the country.
Moving people along doesn't solve homelessness - it just makes it someone else's problem. This is policy theatre while the housing crisis gets worse.
The expanded police powers allow officers to require rough sleepers to leave public spaces, with penalties for non-compliance. Proponents argue the measures address public safety concerns and encourage people into support services. Critics call it criminalization of poverty.
Research on the policy's effectiveness tells a troubling story. Moving rough sleepers on doesn't reduce homelessness - it just disperses it. People cycle through different locations, facing the same lack of housing options wherever they go. The visible problem gets pushed around rather than solved.
Meanwhile, the underlying causes of homelessness in New Zealand continue to intensify. Housing affordability has reached crisis levels in major cities, with rents consuming enormous portions of low-income households' budgets. The shortage of social housing means people who need support often can't access it.
Observers noted the political convenience of enforcement measures over structural solutions. Giving police powers to move rough sleepers is relatively easy and creates the appearance of action. Building the thousands of social housing units actually needed to address homelessness is expensive, slow, and politically complex.
This is policy designed to make the problem less visible, not less severe. If rough sleepers aren't concentrated in visible locations, politicians can pretend the crisis isn't as bad as it is.
Research published in Discovery Public Health examining Housing First outcomes in New Zealand shows that providing stable housing with wraparound support actually works to address homelessness. But scaling such programs requires sustained investment that successive governments have been unwilling to make.
The contrast is stark: expand police powers to move people experiencing homelessness around, or invest in housing and support services that actually end homelessness. New Zealand has chosen the former.
Critics from across the political spectrum have questioned the approach. Advocates for the homeless call it inhumane, while fiscal conservatives note that emergency services, police time, and health costs associated with ongoing homelessness often exceed the cost of providing stable housing.
As long as New Zealand's housing crisis continues - with rents unaffordable for many working families and social housing in short supply - homelessness will persist regardless of police powers. Moving people on is a band-aid on a wound that needs surgery.
