'Calm down' - Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick on coalition's homeless plan

Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick says moving rough sleepers out of the city centre will only shift the problem to another place.

Central government and Auckland Council are considering how they can move homeless people out of the CBD ahead of summer.

Details are scarce but ministers have expressed support for a member's bill that would give police the power to remove people from public spaces for being a nuisance.

The bill would have to be drawn from the biscuit tin, though it's entirely possible the government picks it up as its own bill to progress it into law.

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown hasn't ruled out changing city by-laws either, saying the council wanted to "address immediate concerns" about central city safety.

The coalition has highlighted its recent investment in 300 more Housing First places but acknowledges only two spots have become available since September.

The head of Auckland's central business association Heart of the City, Viv Beck has been meeting with ministers and the city council about worsening homelessness and anti-social behaviour.

She told Morning Report urgent action was needed, and homelessness should not be criminalised, but there should be rules against sleeping on the street.

"There is going to need to be something that says, okay these sorts of behaviours are okay in a significant area like this, these sorts of behaviours aren't.

"We're of the view that lying and sleeping is not something that is actually something you want to really see on your streets."

Beck understood officials had not made any decisions and said there may be another way to solve the problem.

"What we want is a package of solutions that make the difference for both the people in need, and our city centre businesses," she said.

There had been constructive discussion about supporting vulnerable people and ensuring they're housed, said Beck.

'Hysteria is not helping' - Swarbrick

Swarbrick said rough sleeping had grown as a direct result of the coalition's housing policies, specifically the emergency housing qualification that required applicants to prove they didn't contribute to their own lack of housing.

"They have intentionally chosen to make more people homeless. We are left with a situation where many of my constituents in the city centre, and particularly a number of city centre businesses, have noticed that fact."

Swabrick said moving homeless people out of the city centre would only shift the problem.

"Where are we moving these people to? My experience, as the local MP in Auckland Central over the last five years, where police have been brought in to move people along is that it doesn't actually resolve the problem.

"It merely moves the problem along to another place and pops up in another part of the city."

Swabrick has written to Police Minister Mark Mitchell, inviting him to visit her electorate to "see and understand some of the issues we face first hand".

"I would just ask that everybody who has an interest and a stake in Auckland city centre calms down. Hysteria is not helping."

People need homes, not policing - City Missioner

Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson said she understood there would be a greater police presence in the city centre before Christmas.

"I spoke with the police and have had that confirmed. They assured me that that would be happening during the day, that that involves everybody and wouldn't be targeted to rough sleepers at all."

She said everyone was concerned about "the significant increase" in rough sleeping but an enforcement approach would be "totally and utterly ineffective".

"People who are rough sleeping are human beings, and any kind of enforcement approach is not only not good, but it's also ineffective," she said.

"All it simply does is either delay or literally move the person, and therefore all the needs associated with that person down the road - both literally and metaphorically. The answer here is more homes and more support."

Bill of Rights Act implications a 'significant' consideration - lawyer

Meredith Connell partner and local government expert David Collins said councils were able to introduce new by laws under the Local Government Act.

"That can regulate anything required to protect the public from nuisance or to protect, promote and maintain public health and safety or minimise the potential for offensive behavior in public places.

"That's often called upon where councils want to regulate activities that they don't like going on in the public domain so that can cover a variety of different behaviors or actions."

However, it wasn't a carte-blance for councils, he said.

"It's worth bearing in mind that there is provision for ensuring that it is consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. You can't just ban anything that's a nuisance.

"There needs to be an assessment of whether that particular ban is consistent with our appreciation of rights under the Bill of Rights Act.

"So that's going to be considered on a case-by-case basis, depending on what type of restriction is being put in place."

Collins said there were often already bylaws in place that regulated activities that may be connected to homelessness.

"Councils have put in place by laws that prevent people from consuming mind altering substances in public, or having alcohol, open bottles and things like that, in a public place, or littering, setting up tents and other temporary accommodations in a public location."

Public consultation was a standard part of the bylaw process, he said.

'Not something for Police to address'

Homelessness and rough sleeping were not criminal offences, Police's Auckland City District Commander said.

"While it is a long-standing issue in the community, it is not something for Police to address," Superintendent Sunny Patel said in a statement.

He said the increased police presence in the Auckland CBD was down a number of factors, inclduding beat teams moving to 24/7 deployment.

"We have increased the visibility of our Police staff based in the Auckland Central Policing area as well."

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