Alliance Party Leader Victor Billot has condemned the Government’s new policy to ‘move on’ homeless people, describing the approach as a vile attempt to cover up failed social and economic policies.

Mr Billot says in the New Zealand he grew up in, people would have been profoundly shocked at the extent of major homelessness now existing in our communities.

“Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith must be secretly embarrassed at having to front this bankrupt, crummy political performance. National excels at kicking the can down the road on our social crisis, now they have sunk to a new level of kicking the homeless down the road.”

Mr Billot says the tragedy of homelessness and rough sleeping has become the human face of ‘broken New Zealand.’

“This situation is the result of the ‘managed decline’ of New Zealand by successive Governments committed to the politics and economics of rewarding the ‘sorted’ and writing off those who fall by the wayside.”

“It is a bizarre solution by the Government to threaten the homeless with $2000 fines or up to three months in prison. We can afford to imprison the homeless but not house them.”

Mr Billot says you cannot fine or jail your way out of a severe housing shortage, a mental health crisis, intergenerational poverty, and addiction.

The Alliance Party is calling for massive investment in public housing, mental health, and addiction services.

To address the root causes of this crisis, the Alliance Party is championing KiwiWorks, a comprehensive state-led programme to rebuild New Zealand’s housing and infrastructure.

The Alliance also calls for fully funded community and health services needed to support those dealing with trauma, mental health challenges, and addiction.

"We must focus on rebuilding a sense of community and purpose amongst New Zealanders, where we protect and extend a helping hand to the vulnerable and dispossessed,” says Mr Billot.

© Scoop Media