Youth homelessness in New Zealand is increasingly affecting younger children, with advocates and service providers calling for urgent and improved support for rangatahi facing housing insecurity. The concerns were raised during a gathering in West Auckland held on Saturday to mark World Homeless Day, where youth advocates, housing service providers, and rangatahi came together to highlight the pressing issue.
The event was organised by Manaaki Rangatahi, a kaupapa Māori-led collective dedicated to addressing youth homelessness and housing instability across Aotearoa. Te Kou o Rehua Panapa, affiliated with Mā Te Huruhuru Charitable Trust and part of Manaaki Rangatahi’s Manukura outreach team in Tāmaki Makaurau, described a worrying trend of increasingly younger children needing help. Panapa shared that the night prior, the team had reached a 12-year-old who had been homeless for more than nine months, underscoring a shift in the demographics of homeless youth.
“The need is more, and there’s not a hell of a lot of support out there for them,” Panapa said, emphasising that many young people lack basic necessities such as food, hygiene products, and safe places to stay. He highlighted the disproportionate impact on rangatahi Māori and Pacific youth, estimating that about 90 percent of those experiencing homelessness have Māori whakapapa or come from Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the Pacific region. “It hurts. It shouldn’t be a reality for us as people of the land, as tangata whenua. We shouldn’t be experiencing this,” Panapa added.
Mā Te Huruhuru’s Manukura outreach team operates a mobile service known as the ‘waka,’ enabling staff to meet young people directly rather than requiring them to find their own way to support centres. The team offers immediate assistance such as meals, hygiene supplies, phone charging, and a safe environment for rangatahi to engage in conversation.
Panapa stressed the importance of raising public awareness to foster dialogue and collaborative efforts for sustainable solutions. “We need to normalise the conversation and have more kōrero, and work collectively to come up with sustainable solutions for our taitamariki and our whānau who are currently homeless,” he said.
Sharing her personal experience at the event, 18-year-old Te Aroha Humarie Morgan-Neal, who has experienced homelessness herself, highlighted the significance of accessible and culturally grounded support. Morgan-Neal recounted living without stable housing from age 12 to 16, surviving by sleeping in stolen cars and abandoned buildings. She also spoke about battling addiction and enduring an abusive relationship before accessing services through Grace Foundation, a charitable trust providing accommodation and rehabilitation.
Morgan-Neal has been sober for five months and is working towards a positive future for herself and her baby. She credited reconnecting with her Māori culture—through pōwhiri, wānanga, and kapa haka opportunities at Grace Foundation—as key to rebuilding trust and focusing on healing. “I didn’t want to give my baby the life that I had. I wanted to give him better,” she said.
The voices of both frontline workers and those with lived experience underscore a growing urgency for accessible, youth-centred, culturally responsive housing solutions in New Zealand.