The impact of transitions from emergency housing to public housing in Aotearoa New Zealand

Housing is an important social determinant of health and wellbeing. Aotearoa New Zealand is an outlier in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development both in terms of its notably poor housing standards and the fact that it is one of the few countries where public housing has a better indoor environment and tenure security than private rentals. Our paper analyses the transition from emergency housing to public housing among individuals experiencing homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using linked de-identified microdata, we identified 31,761 individuals, who moved from emergency housing to public housing between 2016 and 2023. We found about four-fifths of those who transited from emergency housing to public housing required more than one application, and it took more than two months to settle them into public housing. We found a decrease in annual hospitalisation rates (0.50 to 0.29) and the annual rates of mental health outpatient use (5.8 to 3.7) after entering public housing, confirming the importance of stable and secure housing for health and wellbeing. Considering the health and wellbeing benefits observed, increasing affordable and accessible public housing stock in Aotearoa New Zealand is recommended.