Move-on orders will criminalise children experiencing homelessness

Children and young people experience homelessness at higher rates than any other age group. Half of people experiencing homelessness are aged 0-25 years.¹ Our research has identified over 320,000 children engaged with organisations providing housing support, over 40% of whom identified as Māori – a significant over-representation of the population proportion.² 

The Government is proposing an amendment of the Summary Offences Act to include a ‘move-on order’ that includes children aged 14 and over. This Bill will allow police to issue move-on orders, detain people, require the provision of biographical details. It will allow police to charge with a criminal offence any person, including 14-17 year-old children, who fail to provide this information or comply with the order (with punishment of up to three months imprisonment, or a $2,000 fine).  A move-on order can be issued to people who are sleeping in a well-lit doorway of a store, or sitting with a sign outside a supermarket, asking for money. 

Young people and children experiencing homelessness

Children and young people do not choose to live on the street. They often leave home because staying is unsafe, or because of relationship breakdowns, or unemployment.^3-5 Their whānau may have no other option when facing material hardship. Young people may have aged out of state care with simply nowhere to go. Oranga Tamariki has only 154 supported accommodation placements for the roughly 1,618 eligible young people aged 18-21 leaving care each year, two thirds of whom are Māori.⁶  Once homeless, there are very few housing support services that cater for children and young people. Homelessness prevention services are limited and are targeted towards those aged 18 years and over. Emergency, transitional, and public housing are extremely difficult for young people aged 14-17 years to access. 

Not having a safe, stable, permanent home is associated with higher rates of hospitalisation, struggles with mental health, reduced attendance at school, and higher involvement with the justice system as both perpetrator and victim,^7-10 and an average life expectancy 18 years younger than the general population.¹¹

How the move-on orders will create further harm

There are significant and varied risks for young people that result from the proposed changes in this Bill, as described in Table 1. This Bill will introduce a new pathway into the justice system for young people. Research consistently finds that justice system contact during adolescence increases the likelihood of repeat contact across the life course. This Bill would initiate or deepen that contact. Further, if this Bill results in convictions for a young person, this will make it even harder to access housing and work, exacerbating wellbeing challenges.

Rough sleepers seek shelter in well-lit public places because those places are more safe, visible, and protected. Move-on orders would push young people into less visible, darker, and more isolated spaces where the risk of assault, exploitation, and harm is increased. The Bill would make already vulnerable children and young people even more vulnerable.⁴

Over half of those experiencing homelessness are Māori. This is the product of systems failures, systemic discrimination and ongoing colonisation. In 2023, the Waitangi Tribunal released Kāinga Kore, the stage one report of its inquiry into Māori homelessness.¹² The Tribunal found the Crown had breached the principles of active protection, equity, and good government. It specifically named the lack of support for homeless rangatahi as an ongoing breach. This Bill compounds that breach.

Table 1: Potential harms of proposed move-on orders for children and young people experiencing homelessness

There are evidence-based solutions to homelessness

In some countries, officials have a Duty to Assist people who are sleeping rough or at risk of becoming homeless. The Welsh model places duties on local housing and public authorities to help prevent homelessness and to secure accommodation, especially for groups at heightened risk, including care leavers and young people. The framework treats homelessness as a failure of the housing and welfare systems and a symptom of wider trauma⁵, not as a behavioural or criminal problem to be managed by the police. 

Research evidence from NZ shows unequivocally that the solution to homelessness and rough sleeping is to support people into suitable permanent housing.  Our large longitudinal datasets show that once housed, interactions with the justice system drop significantly, health and mental health improve, and incomes increase.^7-9,13-16 

Studies focused on children and young adults, aged 14 to 24 years, showed that those in stable, long-term, housing had significantly fewer police offences, court charges, and instances of victimisation than the general youth population, after controlling for socio-economic factors.^7,17 The protective effect was strongest for those who had experienced childhood abuse or who lived in households with prior offending. Housing stability and support are one of the most powerful crime prevention tools we have. The Housing First programme prioritises getting people into permanent, supported housing, regardless of any other issues they are dealing with. People need to be at least 18 to access this service, and there are often not enough houses to help everyone. NZ needs a Housing First service for youth, as has been successfully developed in Canada.^18,19 

A move-on order requires somewhere to move on to. Our focus should be on creating safe, suitable and supported housing environments for young people to live in. 

Authors' details

Dr Sarah Bierre, Department of Public Health, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke | University of Otago, Wellington

Dr Kimberley O'Sullivan, Department of Public Health, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke | University of Otago, Wellington

Jacqueline Paul, Pūrangakura Māori Research Centre

Assoc Prof Polly Atatoa Carr, Te Ngira Institute for Population Research, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato | University of Waikato

Professor Nevil Pierse, Department of Public Health, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke | University of Otago, Wellington