Kāinga kore-Homelessness is a complex social issue, with no easy or quick fix.
We cannot address this issue on our own and support a community-wide approach to both understanding and responding to homelessness.
Ōtautahi-Christchurch has many social agencies that work tirelessly with our vulnerable street community to navigate the complicated issue of housing deprivation. Together we can help to develop and nurture networks and bring resources and people together to achieve more for homeless people.
Statistics NZ defines homelessness as: A living situation where people with no other options to acquire safe and secure housing are:
This includes people sleeping on the street or in parks, in a car or shed, those who are couch-surfing or house-jumping and those forced to live with whanau in overcrowded residences.
If you are concerned about the welfare of any individual(s) or whanau, or your own personal living situation, you can reach out to:
Homelessness results from multiple factors, with a key driver being a lack of social and affordable housing. The most at-risk groups include those with mental health issues or alcohol and drug addictions, and those experiencing family violence.
However, homelessness is increasingly being experienced by groups who have not traditionally been at risk.
This includes low-income households, both working and beneficiaries, sole-parent households, and young people, particularly gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex - LGBTQ+.
Getting accurate numbers of how many people are affected by homelessness/housing deprivation is challenging, due to the nature of the issue.
One source of information is findings from the national 2018 Census, where 102,123 people were identified as severely housing deprived – which is nearly 2.2% of the population. This figure also included people living in ‘Uninhabitable housing’.
The % of total severely housing-deprived people in NZ is 4.9%.
The figures for Christchurch are shown in the table below:
| Number of people | Number per 10,000 people | |
| People without shelter | 138 | 3.7 |
| People in temporary accommodation | 446 | 12.1 |
| People sharing accommodation | 1,434 | 38.9 |
| Total severely housing-deprived | 2,018 | 54.7 |
We also have the number and proportion of households that are classified as crowded in Christchurch City from the 2023 Census:
| Number | Proportion | |
| Crowded | 6,639 | 4.6% |
| Not crowded | 138,531 | 95.4% |
There are a small number of people who beg in Ōtautahi Christchurch. This happens more commonly in the central city and larger commercial areas.
It can be confronting to see begging in person and makes us wonder what we can do to address issues. Supporting one of the city’s social agencies, either financially or with your time, is one way you can help.
Giving money to people on the street is a short-term act of kindness. Supporting a social service is a long-term community solution.
Begging is not illegal. However, intimidating or threatening behaviour can breach criminal laws and should be reported to the police.
If you need urgent help from the police, ambulance or fire service, call 111.
Urgent matters can be issues such as intimidating, aggressive or anti-social behaviour; assistance in trespassing someone from a private property; reporting drug use, substance abuse or drinking alcohol in banned areas; or other criminal behaviour.
If you need to talk to the police and the matter is not urgent, call 105 or go online to report a problem.
We have some bylaws, or rules, that affect the way our residents live, work and play in certain areas. These relate to issues such as alcohol use in public places or camping in a park or reserve.
If you feel these rules are being broken you can call us on 0800 800 169 or report other issues(external link) such as:
