Homelessness is primarily a mental health issue, more than a housing or criminal issue, according to advocate Hurimoana Dennis.

This comes after the Government’s proposed Move-On orders, which would give police authority to move on homeless people, rough sleepers, and beggars on the streets if they are being disruptive.

“It’s not a house issue or homeless issue. I mean, clearly that’s the obvious issue, but it’s not the issue,” Dennis says.

“When whānau choose to sleep in the shop door, rummage through rubbish for kai, don’t look well, they’re on addictions – [that] is a person who is not of sound mind.”

Under an amendment to the Summary Offences Act, the ‘move-on’ orders could be applied to anyone over the age of 14 who is showing disorderly or threatening behaviour, obstructing a business entryway, rough sleeping, or begging.

Those who breach the order risk a fine of up to $2,000 or up to three months in jail.

Dennis, who has spent the last decade leading the Manaaki Tangata programme at Te Puea Marae, providing housing, training and work opportunities for more than 700 homeless and displaced whānau, says the announcement is a short-sighted solution to a deeper problem.

“[It] just doesn’t make any sense.”

Psychiatrists across the motu have raised concerns about the orders, saying they risk criminalising poverty, homelessness and mental illness without addressing root causes.

Dr Hiran Thabrew, Chair of Tū Te Akaaka Roa says,

“Community safety is genuinely important, but the evidence is clear that these kinds of enforcement measures do not make communities safer.”

“People need a roof over their heads, meaningful social connections, financial security and access to quality physical and mental health care to lead stable, fulfilling lives.”

He also highlighted concerns about the orders affecting people as young as 14.

“Young people who are sleeping rough or engaging in disorderly behaviour are almost always doing so because they are already in crisis.”

Ehara i te rautaki - he piritāpi noa iho

Wellington City Missioner, Rev Murray Edridge, who also works on the ground with homeless communities in Pōneke, shares his concern.

“I’m surprised, I’m disappointed, I’m frustrated, and it’s such a short-term view,” he says.

“Nobody chooses to be homeless, let’s be clear. People are there because of circumstances generally not of their own making, and for us to treat them like that as a community is not who we are as a country.”

Edridge says the Wellington City Mission has already voiced opposition to the move-on order.

“When I first hear the Prime Minister talk about this in November last year, he was really clear [that] we’re not gonna move people without support services in place. Where are those support services?”

He adds that many community agencies are already at capacity.

“Most of those services are not funded by the government at all; they’re funded by the generosity of the community.”

He hāpai, he whakawhanake i te pokapū o Tāmaki

In a statement, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown said the new move-on powers for police are a key part of the Government’s action plan to create a thriving Auckland city centre.

“Move-on orders give the police an important tool to address antisocial behaviour that makes people feel unsafe. When people are intimidating others, blocking doorways, or engaging in threatening behaviour, Police need the ability to act,” Brown explains.

“These powers build on the work already underway through our city centre action plan announced last year and will help restore confidence that Auckland’s CBD is a safe, welcoming and vibrant place for families, workers and visitors.”

Meanwhile, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said during his State of the Nation address that the move-on orders are merely a band-aid approach to bigger issues at hand.

“You’re not gonna deal with homelessness by moving it out of the CBD into the suburbs,” Hipkins says.

“We’ve got to invest in those social service providers who actually deal with the underlying causes of homelessness.”

Kei te piki tonu te kaute o te hunga kāingakore

Statistics from The Salvation Army and Community Housing Aotearoa’s National Homelessness Data Project show that the number of homeless has doubled in Tāmaki Makaurau, from around 400 people in 2024 to over 900 people in 2025.

In 2023, Stats NZ data showed Māori faced much higher rates of severe housing deprivation than the national average, with about 4% of Māori affected, compared with 2.3% across all ethnicities.

Edridge says, “I think the situation at the moment is the worst it’s ever been, certainly in living memory. COVID had an impact on that, socio-economic effects had an impact on that.”

A former police officer himself, Dennis adds that the move-on orders could also strain Police resources.

“From a wider police perspective in terms of enforcement, I think that’s gonna create more work for them.”

“Under the Mental Health Act, there was already provision in there for [Police] to move them on, but to move them to a place where they can get some care - [that] needs to be the rautaki, [rather] than a criminal issue,” Dennis says.

The move-on orders are currently proposed and have not yet been formally legislated.