Aotearoa Homelessness Summit 2025

AOTEAROA HOMELESSNESS SUMMIT 2025

Wednesday, 16 April 2025 

University of Waikato - Tauranga Campus

About this event 
Aotearoa Homelessness Summit is about championing best practices, celebrating community contributions, and collective advocacy to reduce and prevent homelessness in Aotearoa. 

Who should attend 

1. Those working in roles addressing homelessness and housing stress in community groups, local government, hapū & iwi, academics, students, faith groups, and social service organisations. 
2. Those supporting homelessness services through funding, governance, commissioning, research, policy, and other related roles. 
3. Those with lived experience navigating homelessness and its related services. 
4. Those in the wider community interested in learning about initiatives and supporting services connected to homelessness. 

What this event covers

This year's theme "When the dominoes keep falling" builds on the 2021 publication from Tauranga "When the Dominoes Start to Fall" to bring key sector leaders and partners together to discuss the ongoing challenges and cascading effects of homelessness in our communities. By identifying the persistent gaps and emerging trends, we aim to foster a collective understanding and drive actionable solutions to prevent and reduce homelessness in Aotearoa.

Key topics covered in this year's summit include:

• Leadership, Policies, and Systems Change: Emphasising the importance of local insights, approaches, and leadership in addressing systemic factors that perpetuate homelessness, this session will feature presentations on true partnership and collaboration, the roles of central government and local government leadership, and tangata whenua-led initiatives
  
• Strategies for the Sector: Focusing on how the sector can adapt, strategise, and operate amidst rising needs and diminishing resources. This panel discussion will cover topics such as collaboration, prevention, best practices, and funding.
• Societal Change: Highlighting the significance of narratives in working towards transformational change, especially when societal and political empathy is waning. Presentations will explore how organizations can drive community shifts through effective communication about major issues.
• Unsheltered Homelessness – Local Response: Discussing local collaborations, Housing First model, assertive outreach, coordinated access, safe spaces, low barrier accommodation, and individual case management to address unsheltered homelessness.
• Workshop for Lived Experience Advocates: A practical workshop for advocates with lived experience of housing stress and the various forms of homelessness as well as organisations working with lived experience partners on strategies to inform, influence, and lead, including interactions with funders, businesses, and government.

**A detailed programme will be released soon.

Note: This is a whānau friendly venue and event. As the Summit falls during the school holidays, we have a volunteer run children's programme and activities organised between 9am - 4pm so that parents and caregivers working in the sector are able to attend the Summit. Please register your kids (ages 5+) as you buy the tickets, and the team will be in touch with more information.

PRE-SUMMIT SPECIAL EVENT

LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKSHOP ON HOMELESSNESS RESPONSE

When? Tuesday, 15 April (11 am - 5 pm)
Where? The Cargo Shed (new venue!)
Who can attend? Local government leaders and staff working in policy and specialist roles and sector leaders working alongside regional and local leadership.

What this session covers:

• Creating a NZ based city/regional tool kit for homelessness response and reduction
• Creating a local government toolkit for enabling papakāinga development and community housing and how councils can work with mana whenua and CHPs in different rohe
• Regional Housing Map and data sharing roadshow
• Local Data Report and Project

Thanks to 

Aotearoa Homelessness Summit is co-produced by Tauranga City Council, University of Waikato (Tauranga), Te Matapihi, Pacific Growth Services, Salvation Army Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, Otago Housing Alliance, Community Housing Aotearoa, Housing First New Zealand, Kāinga Tupu Taskforce, and Te Kāuru.

Special thanks to Brother B and The People’s Project, Tauranga, for the artwork.

Refund Policy

*Please note that the tickets to the Summit are non-refundable. However, participants can transfer their ticket to someone else. Kindly notify us so we can include them in any relevant comms. 

Email: summit@kaingatupu.co.nz for all further queries.