The Green Party is imploring the Government to choose actual solutions to homelessness, after Ministers today announced the Government’s plan to effectively criminalise it.
“Christopher Luxon’s Government chose to intentionally make homelessness worse, and now they’re criminalising the problem they have inflamed,” says Green Party Co-leader and Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick.
“When the Government ignored its own official advice, community leaders, social services and expert warnings to cut off access to emergency housing and slash support for wrap-around services, communities received a tidal wave increase in homelessness.
“Since these changes came into effect, we have been practically begging the Prime Minister to come out into the real world, to meet the people, including the children, who his policies have made homeless.
“We know the solutions, which the Government continues to choose to ignore.
“Now, instead of solving it, they’re going to push the problem around, and throw good money after bad to lock up homeless people in prisons at a cost in excess of $200,000 a year, for worse and worse outcomes.
“Not only is Luxon’s Government following Trump’s America in foreign policy, but they’re now copy-pasting that callous approach to local issues - ignoring evidence, punching down and relying on strong man words when the country needs genuine solutions.
“If the Government wants to ‘deal’ with homelessness, it should house people. It says it just wants to ‘move’ people ‘on’ - to where?” says Chlöe Swarbrick.
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