A Waikato district mayor has hit back at Auckland mayor Wayne Brown after he said it should send its homeless to the countryside.
“It must be nice having a city so flash you can evict people for not matching the decor,” Waikato District’s Aksel Bech said.
This comes after Government ministers last week said they wanted to change the law to ban begging, or rough sleeping, in city centres.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith confirmed work was underway to empower police – or potentially other law enforcement agents – to move on rough sleepers and beggars.
Auckland’s mayor says he welcomes any law change to forcibly move homeless people out of the city centre
https://chart.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?fm=newsarticle+-+Law+and+Order,nrhl&id=433545
Opposition parties and housing advocates have raised alarm over the prospect of an effective ban in homeless people in CBDs, warning that such an approach only displaces the problem and causes more harm.
Asked about the possibility on Tuesday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Parliament there had been “no Cabinet decisions or discussion” on the topic.
But on Wednesday, he told reporters the Government was in discussion with “lots of different stakeholders” in Auckland to improve the state of the city centre.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/11/05/rough-sleeping-ban-for-auckland-cbd-considered-by-government/
AC