13. Question No. 13—HousingHon WILLIE JACKSON (Labour) to the Associate Minister of HousingQuestion No. 13—Housing13. Hon WILLIE JACKSON (Labour) to the Associate Minister of Housing: Does the Minister stand by his statement relating to the drop in children living in emergency accommodation where he said I'm not worried that some are now homeless"?Hon TAMA POTAKA (Associate Minister of Housing): Madam Speaker mālō e lelei. I am very concerned about homelessness especially with tamariki. In the context in which the relevant question was asked of me by media and understood by me and in relation to this Government's very successful priority one programme I'll remind the member who may inadvertently mischaracterise the context in which the question was asked I am very proud that the 1110 children who have come out of emergency housing by way of the priority one programme have now gone into warm safe dry homes. Every single tamariki of the 1110 have now gone into warm safe dry homes.Hon Willie Jackson: Is the Minister also not worried that social services are directly attributing a recent increase in homelessness to his decision to make it harder for people to access emergency housing as reported this week?Hon TAMA POTAKA: Mālō e lelei Madam Speaker. I am not advised of any substantiated evidence or reports of increased homelessness. Our officials continue to monitor homelessness very carefully. Let it be known in this House—again for the fourth time this week—that emergency housing and the capacity of emergency housing in the majority of city centres throughout this country is available for those with a genuine need for short-term stay for temporary accommodation.Hon Willie Jackson: Does his indifference to homelessness explain why he ignored official advice that his policy of making it harder to access emergency housing will result in more people living on the streets?Hon TAMA POTAKA: Mālō e lelei Madam Speaker. Early on in the process of establishing the new way of doing things we were advised by the Ministry of Social Development that there may be a risk of increased homelessness by the actions that we were taking but there are no substantiated reports or evidence of increased homelessness. There continues to be capacity in the majority of city centres in Aotearoa New Zealand for those with a genuine need for a short-term stay for temporary accommodation.Hon Willie Jackson: Who should New Zealanders trust: social services who have reported an increase in homelessness because of the Minister's policies or the Minister who isn't worried about an increase in homelessness?Hon TAMA POTAKA: Madam Speaker mālō e lelei. Certainly it's blue shoots—that this Government has made decisions that have resulted in a decrease of over a thousand whānau in emergency housing from the time we came into Government until the end of June and 1110 tamariki who have left emergency housing since April 2024—Hon Member: Where have they gone?Hon TAMA POTAKA: —and we do know and my officials do have the information of the locations where those tamariki have gone to.Hon Willie Jackson: If as has now been established the Government has slashed Kāinga Ora funding significantly reduced funding for community housing providers cut back on Māori housing and made it harder for whānau to access emergency housing and the Minister isn't concerned that some are now homeless doesn't this just confirm that he's actually more focused on ensuring landlords get $2.9 billion in tax breaks than actually housing vulnerable families?Hon TAMA POTAKA: Mālō e lelei Madam Speaker. The Minister must have turned his ears off earlier on when I described that I am very concerned about homelessness in this country. However there are a number of aspects of his question that would be better directed to the Minister in charge of various funding for Kāinga Ora.Hon Willie Jackson: Madam Speaker?DEPUTY SPEAKER: Sorry. There's no more supplementary questions.Hon Willie Jackson: One more? One more?DEPUTY SPEAKER: No. There's no more supplementary questions. That concludes oral questions. I'll stand with tradition and give everyone 30 seconds to quietly move on."