More people in the Bay of Plenty are finding housing, according to latest figures from the Public Housing Quarterly Report

The report shows the Government is pulling out all the stops to house and support people in the face of the housing crisis.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford confirmed there are 72 more households in housing than last quarter.

'In the September quarter, in the Bay of Plenty, we made 57 more transitional housing places available and we housed 72 households from the public housing waiting list.

'At the same time, we're seeing more people coming forward for help, which is particularly telling, considering we made 1,742 additional public housing, transitional housing and Housing First places across the country available for people in need this winter.

'The continuing demand for public housing and other housing support shows that it's going to take a concerted effort over many years to end homelessness. The housing crisis was created over a decade and isn't going to be fixed overnight.

'In the Bay of Plenty, there are now 2,663 households in public housing, with 560 households on the wait list for public housing. This shows the hidden homeless that we warned about at the beginning of the year are continuing to come forward,” he says.

The number of Bay of Plenty individuals or families seeking Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants nearly doubled in the past quarter – up from 222 households to 416 households.

The number of transitional housing places tenanted or available in the Bay of Plenty is now 256.

Transitional housing offers warm, dry and secure housing and support for people or families while they find a longer-term home.

'While we build New Zealand out of the national housing crisis, including 275 more public housing places in the Bay of Plenty over the next four years, we'll continue to do whatever it takes to support people and families in need.”

The regional figures join a nationwide total, which shows 1,721 households are now in public housing, a 1300 increase from last year.

'We have increased the number of public housing tenancies by 451. We also made 244 more transitional housing places available and housed 1,721 households from public housing waiting list.

'There are also 413 homeless people or families now in stable housing through the Housing First programme in Auckland, Christchurch and Tauranga.

Julie Nelson and Phil Twyford in Tauranga earlier this year.

'At the same time, we're seeing more people coming forward for help, which is particularly telling, considering we made 1,742 additional public housing, transitional housing and Housing First places available for people in need this winter.

'The continuing demand for public housing and other housing support shows that it's going to take a concerted effort over many years to end homelessness. The housing crisis was created over a decade and isn't going to be fixed overnight.

'There are now 66,235 households in public housing, with 9,536 households on the waiting list for public housing. This shows the hidden homeless that we warned about at the beginning of the year are continuing to come forward,” he says.

The number of people or families seeking Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants rose to 3,840 in the September quarter – 33 per cent more than the previous quarter.

The number of transitional housing places tenanted or available is now 2,585. These are warm, dry and secure housing places and support for people or families while they find a longer-term home.

'While we build New Zealand out of the national housing crisis, including by building 6,400 more public housing places over the next four years, we'll continue to do whatever it takes to support people and families in need,” he says.