What We Do

We believe every New Zealander has the right to a warm, dry, healthy, and affordable place to live, yet in December 2024, Stats NZ reported that approximately 112,496 people (2.3% of the population) were severely housing deprived, an increase from 99,462 in 2018.¹

Visionwest operates a number of housing initiatives to address homelessness in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland and Waitaha Canterbury. These include:

• Long-term Supportive Housing – Visionwest’s own housing stock, providing permanent, safe and affordable housing with supports as needed.

• Housing First Permanent Housing– in Auckland, through being a member of the Auckland Housing First Collective.

• Transitional Housing – housing at an affordable rent for those in desperate need. We have a number of transitional housing developments and properties across West Auckland, South Auckland and Canterbury.

• Youth Housing – we have three youth housing strategies specifically aimed at under 25s: Whare Hiwa, Le Aute, My Whare.

• Sustaining Tenancies – practical support to tenants who are at risk of losing their tenancy.

Together, Community Housing and Community Housing Support Services provide wraparound support for client whānau to enable them to escape poverty, sustain their tenancies, and work towards achieving their future goals.

In 2024, 13.4% of New Zealand children lived in material hardship, 12.7% lived in low-income households before housing costs, and 17.7% lived in low-income households after housing costs.² These latest official figures show no statistically significant change from 2023, but they represent a stall in the nation’s reduction in child poverty and remind us of the urgency of this social issue.

• Money Mentors is Visionwest’s personalised financial support hub for those who want support with their financial challenges including the reduction or removal of debt.

In 2023/24, 27.0% of children lived in households where food ran out often or sometimes, a significant increase from 21.3% the previous year. Rates are significantly higher for Māori (34.3%) and Pasefika (54.8%) children compared to European/Other (21.9%) and Asian (17.1%) children.³

• Whai Manaaki Kai, our food supply service, provides multiple avenues for whānau to access food support including Manaaki Kai, our social supermarket and Pātaka Kai which provides emergency food parcels to those who are finding things tough.

In New Zealand, a 2023/24 Ministry of Health survey reported 13.0% of adults experienced high or very high psychological distress, up from 8.3% in 2018/19. Young adults (15-24) and disabled adults showed the highest rates. Over half of New Zealand’s young people (15-24) experience anxiety or depression, and the number of those with moderate to high distress has nearly doubled since 2016/17.⁴ 

We believe that, with the right support, people can overcome many of the challenging situations they face and move forward in their lives.

• Visionwest Wellbeing Centre offers a range of confidential counselling and wellbeing services to whānau of all ages including counselling support for children, families, and couples.

• Specialist culturally appropriate Māori and Pasefika trauma counselling is available through Mātanga Oranga.

In Aotearoa New Zealand in 2024/2025, an estimated 750,000 people were aged 65 or over, with significant numbers receiving care: around 33,000 in aged residential care and about 80,000 in home and community care.⁵

• Visionwest Home Healthcare’s trained Support Workers provide over a million hours of personalised in-home care to over 7,000 client whānau every year.

In 2024, the youth unemployment rate in Aotearoa New Zealand amounted to 14.28 percent, almost three times the national average.⁶

• Ōhinga Tū, Visionwest’s youth development service, ensures rangatahi who need support in self-development receive the encouragement, wisdom, and advice that will provide inspiration and hope for tomorrow and will enable them to confidently walk the pathway to a flourishing future.

• Ōhinga Tū provides a range of mentoring, training, and pre-employment programmes for young people with each rangatahi treated as an individual with a programme designed to meet their specific needs.

Visionwest proactively integrates Kaupapa Māori practices into our mahi following specific tikanga in a way that upholds the mana of every individual. This includes:

• Proactive Kaupapa Māori development within Visionwest.

• A number of Māori-focused programmes including Mātanga Oranga (Māori-informed trauma support), Ōhinga Tū, Whare Hiwa and My Whare

16.6% of the population of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland identify with a Pacific ethnicity – an increase of 12.8% over the previous census.⁷ With this in mind and recognising the overrepresentation of Pasefika tagata (people) accessing Visionwest services, our dedicated Pasefika Development Team supports our Pasefika staff and mahi.