Housing First Ōtautahi

26/05/2026

Housing First Ōtautahi Manager Nic Fleming featured on a recent episode of the Community Housing Aotearoa - CHA Hub Podcast, sharing insight into the work that the Housing First and Outreach Rapid Response teams are doing to support people experiencing homelessness.

Click the link below to listen to the podcast episode!

Podcast Episode · CHA Hub Podcast · 18 May · 30min

14/04/2026

We recently reached a significant milestone at Housing First Ōtautahi – we have now housed over 500 people who have experienced long-term homelessness.

31/03/2026

As part of their Doors to Dignity campaign on older persons housing, the Christchurch Methodist Mission is petitioning the government to increase investment in social and affordable housing for older people.

We are observing an increasing number of older people sleeping rough, both through our Housing First and Outreach Rapid Response programmes.

Click the link below for more information and to sign and share the petition.

For more information about the Doors to Dignity campaign visit www.doorstodignity.nz

Over the last couple of years, the Christchurch Methodist Mission has become increasingly aware of the number of older people in housing distress. We are seeing this in the growing waiting list for our affordable and social housing at Wesley Village, and in the number of older people requiring emerg...

15/03/2026

The Housing First collective are urging the Government and local authorities to abandon any consideration of “move-on” powers targeting people experiencing homelessness.

Moving on orders is a short-sighted enforcement response that does not work. It shifts the issue of homelessness from one street to the next, causing further displacement and harm while ignoring the systemic failures that created it. Let's do what works instead.

14/01/2026

Sem was one of the estimated 57,000 homeless women in New Zealand. Seven months, 12 days ago she was an addict. Her life changed when she stood in front of a judge in court last year. She could remember the exact words he said to her that day: “Sem is not a lost cause.”

She now lives in her own rental, owns a car, and volunteers in her spare time. She decided to share her story so others know it is possible to turn their lives around.

“I just wanted to be heard and understood and listened to,” she said.

Despite women making up over half the homeless population in NZ, there are only three dedicated facilities for homeless women across the country.

Victoria Crockford, project director at the Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness, says women face increased danger on the street with risk of s*xual violence. Through their 2024 survey and report, they found women felt less safe in mixed-gendered missions and shelters. They also had added stresses like hygiene products, medicine and support for their children.

Read more at the link below.

“I felt shamed, embarrassed, and just worthless. I didn’t want to tell people that I was sleeping in my car.”

12/01/2026

We’ve recently launched a new outreach service to support people experiencing short-term homelessness, who may not meet the Housing First criteria. The Outreach Rapid Response team is made up of five outreach workers, a housing locator, and two nurses.

In their first week, the team encountered 19 people newly on the streets, including an 87-year-old woman, a 70-year-old, and a 17-year-old.

Housing First Manager Nic Fleming says they are increasingly seeing older people living on the streets, and a variety of reasons why they end up homeless.

"They have been living with family, and then family have moved away or gone into hospital. Or there has been trauma with some kind of issue in the family, or people passing away and they haven't known where to go.”

"There are massive gaps which leaves people walking around Ōtautahi who are stuck because they just can't find stable housing but also don't want to go to a rest home or a mental health facility. So where can they go?"

Read more about our new outreach service at the link below.

The service encountered an 87-year-old woman living on the streets in its first week of operation.

17/12/2025

Thanks to everyone who came along to our final Commons at the Phillipstown Community Hub yesterday! We were lucky to have the Te Roopu Tehono Kapa Haka group give an amazing performance.

Ngā mihi nui to Phillipstown Community Hub – we’ve loved working together.

11/12/2025

Thanks to Wild Bamboo for putting together this infographic of our Recordbase data over the past year. It’s been a big year for us at Housing First Ōtautahi – thank you for following us on this journey.

09/10/2025

Maddy Croad from The Press spoke to some of the artists behind our World Homeless Day Street Art project.

Roger hopes his poem, which details what his life was like on the street, will give people a glimpse into what those on the streets deal with every day.

“Just seeing it up here, it shows me how far I’ve come in the last year. It’s just giving people a little insight of what it’s like to be out there,” he said.

“That’s part of what this booklet is about, it’s part of my recovery.”

Grace Hessel went from being a homeowner and electrical apprentice, to homeless after a family crisis.

08/10/2025

Our World Homeless Day Street Art is now on display at the Toi Ōtautahi lightboxes outside Te Pae!

Check out these amazing artworks created by people who have experienced homelessness, amplifying the voices of those with lived experience.

https://www.housingfirstchch.co.nz/WHD-Street-Art/