MSD struggles to deliver early interventions amid workload pressures
The government has scrapped part of a Ministry of Social Development (MSD) programme aimed at preventing people from entering emergency housing, citing an inability to cope with the workload, RNZ reported.
A December MSD report to Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka (pictured) revealed that the ministry was too stretched, partly due to changes related to the Jobseeker benefit.
“We do not recommend progressing further with phase one work at this time due to insufficient frontline capacity and wider organisational pressures,” the report said.
“MSD’s frontline capacity is currently oversubscribed, and there are wider organisational pressures because of the focus on implementing initiatives to support other government targets, including the Jobseeker target.”
Emergency housing work dropped to prioritise Jobseeker reforms
The government’s plan to reduce the number of Jobseeker beneficiaries required MSD staff to shift resources, with initiatives including phone-based case management for 10,000 people and the creation of individual job plans for more than 70,000, RNZ reported.
“If phase one were to continue, because it would require resources from across the organisation, there would need to be a trade-off against other MSD work programme priorities, including supporting the Jobseeker target,” the MSD report said.
While initial progress had been made, including gathering feedback from community housing providers and organisations supporting homeless individuals, officials concluded the resource strain was too high to continue phase one.
Systemic failures identified as key drivers of housing instability
Feedback collected during phase one highlighted that many emergency housing needs stemmed from systemic failures rather than individual shortcomings.
The report noted that poor communication between agencies like MSD, Health, and Corrections was a significant factor contributing to people falling into emergency housing.
Emergency housing demand falling, but long-term impact unclear
MSD pointed to a dramatic reduction in the number of people using emergency housing, crediting changes such as tightening eligibility criteria. However, it said more time was needed to assess the full impact of these policy shifts.
“We will be better placed to fully understand potential need and whether any new processes or changes are required, if more time is given to understand how the changes are interacting with each other and once planned evaluations have taken place,” the report said.
Potaka: Phase two will take a “holistic approach”
Potaka emphasised that he had not stopped the early intervention work entirely but had chosen to halt phase one.
“I did not agree to stop work on early interventions but rather chose not to further progress phase one of the workstream, which was focused only on MSD interventions within the current system,” he said.
Potaka confirmed that phase two, being developed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), would continue independently.
“The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is due to provide advice to me shortly on phase two of the work, which is expected to take a more holistic approach to reduce the likelihood of people requiring emergency housing support,” he said.
It remains unclear what the holistic phase two approach will involve. Potaka’s office said he is expected to receive advice in late April, with further details to be released once decisions are made, RNZ reported.
