New government fund to address homelessness; family violence victims to be able to end tenancies
Wed 02 Sep 2020
The Government has launched a new fund with $16.6 million available over three years to support local initiatives to prevent and respond to homelessness.
The Local Innovation and Partnership Fund is part of the development of the Aotearoa/New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan. The Fund is open to partnerships of two or more local providers or organisations with an interest in responding to homelessness. It is designed to support Māori providers, hapū, iwi, community organisations, not for profit organisations and wider community partners to work together on innovative solutions to homelessness in their area.
The purpose of the Local Innovation and Partnership Fund is to:
- "support the development and implementation of local initiatives that respond to and prevent homelessness
- enable and support community organisations, local government, Iwi and wider community partners to work together on initiatives to address homelessness
- support innovative ways of working to address homelessness, address system gaps and improve responses tailored to needs in local areas
- support functional zero (ending or reducing the most acute forms of homelessness) approaches to street homelessness and/or reduce reliance on motels
- fund wider homelessness projects where a community identifies a need that is currently not being responded to, or where existing support is not adequate.
- enable locally designed innovative initiatives to be funded, planned, and implemented in a local area. Initiatives should propose new ways to respond to local causes and drivers of homelessness that may not be addressed by existing national policy, programmes or operations."
It does not address housing supply issues such as land, building, new builds or leases.
Organisations must have a partnership to apply. The partnership must be made up of two or more organisations (local or nationally based) with an interest in responding to homelessness, such as Māori providers, hapū and iwi; community organisations; or not for profit organisations. One or more organisations in the partnership must have provided response and prevention support services for homelessness or related non-housing services in the past.
There are two grant sizes:
- Small to medium grants: from $50,000 - $500,000
- Large grants: from $500,000 - $2 million.
The first funding round is already open. The deadline to apply is 16 October 2020. Round two of the Fund will open in early to mid-2021.
Find more information, a guide to applying and the application, see the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Local Innovation and Partnership Fund page.
For questions contact InnovationandPartnership@hud.govt.nz.
Related news
Update: The changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 that allow victims of family violence to leave a tenancy at short notice took effect 11 August 2021. The new provisions can be used even though the related regulations are still being developed. Tenancy Services published guidance on how the changes to the law can be used in September 2022.
Update: For more information see the Ministry of Social Development information on Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 to protect victims/survivors of family violence.
Parliament passed the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in August 2020. The legislation includes amendments to increase protections for tenants and reform rental legislation. This includes a provision for victims of family violence to end a tenancy with two days’ notice without financial penalty. The law change related to family violence is currently set to come into effect on 11 August 2021. For more information about the changes see the Tenancy Services information on how the Tenancy laws are changing.
Related media
Auckland tenant ordered to pay landlord $8k after abusive partner smashed up home, Stuff, 09.10.2021
New tenant protections come into effect, Beehive media release, 11.02.2021
Greens Celebrate Rent Reforms, Press Release: Green Party, Scoop, 06.08.2020
Image: Free-Photos from Pixabay
