Homeless count at least 3600

At least 3600 people are homeless in Auckland right now, but Mayor Phil Goff has conceded the problem could be larger than the new figures suggest.

The data was released yesterday and comes from Auckland’s first homelessness count, which cost ratepayers $375,000.

Volunteers found 336 people living without shelter on the night of September 17. Of those, 179 people were sleeping on the streets and 157 in cars.

However, Housing First Auckland’s Fiona Hamilton said the figures represented just 40 per cent of people living without shelter on the night of the count.

‘‘Therefore ... it is estimated there were approximately 800 people in unsheltered homelessness on 17 September, 2018,’’ she said.

Another 2874 people were estimated to be in temporary or emergency accommodation on the night of the count. Of those people, 1299 were children. The count was not comprehensive, Hamilton said.

Rather, it showed the minimum number of homeless at one point in time. Goff said public authorities had taken their ‘‘eye off the ball to see the growth in the level of homelessness that we have witnessed’’. ‘‘No, we haven’t done enough in the past. Are we doing more now? Yes,’’ he said.

‘‘Do we still need to do more on top of that? Almost certainly.

A report from Auckland Council’s City Centre Advisory Board revealed homelessness could rise to 26,522 by 2021