Government funding for short term housing for perpetrators of family violence

The Government announced it will provide $500,000 over two years for short-term emergency housing for perpetrators of family violence.

The emergency housing will be used when a Police Safety Order (PSO) requires the perpetrator to stay away from the home but that person has nowhere else to stay. PSOs, introduced in New Zealand in 2010, allow Police the power to remove a suspected perpetrator of family violence and require the perpetrator to stay away from the home for up to five days.

The funding will be used to provide emergency housing in Christchurch and Waikato, where the new Integrated Safety Response pilot is being trialed. The government launched the pilot in Christchurch earlier this year and announced the second pilot location in Waikato earlier this month. See the NZ Police website for more information on the Integrated Safety Response Pilot.

Justice Minister Amy Adams said “The dedicated emergency housing places will be used when perpetrators are required to stay away from the family home for a short period, but have nowhere else to stay. A shortage of such accommodation can lead to them returning home, sometimes leading to further family violence incidents.”

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said "Evidence suggests that removing perpetrators rather than victims from family violence situations can help prevent homelessness for the victims and creates less disruption in their lives."

Some opinion pieces raised questions about using government funding to house perpetrators of violence. In an interview with Newstalk ZB, Minister Adams stated that the approach is about supporting victims to remain safely in their own homes by removing the perpetrator instead of removing the victim. During the time the perpetrator is removed from the home, services can do risk assessments and work with the perpetrator around changing their behaviour. Several family violence services have come out in support of the idea.

This funding is part of the cross-agency work programme overseen by the Ministerial Group on Family Violence and Sexual Violence. See the previous NZFVC story for an Update on Ministerial Group on Family and Sexual Violence work programme.

Also see the recent government update on the success of the Strengthening Safety Service.