Opposition parties have released their inquiry report on homelessness and say a nationwide "Housing First" strategy must begin immediately. Labour's housing spokesman Phil Twyford spells out the four principal recommendations of the report.

Tackling bureaucracy and finding the "political will" is crucial to ending homelessness in New Zealand, a cross-party inquiry into the issue has concluded.

Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party have released a report with 20 recommendations to tackle homelessness, after holding a series of hearings across New Zealand and receiving hundreds of submissions.

The report says the level of homelessness in New Zealand is "larger than any other time in recent memory and is continuing to grow", with families forced to live on the streets, in cars, and in garages.

123RF Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party have released a report following their homelessness inquiry.

"Homelessness is no longer dominated by the stereotypical rough sleeper with mental health issues, and is now more often a working family with young children."

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The report recommends rolling out a "housing first" approach as the main response to severe homelessness, as well as increasing the supply of state housing.

Kevin Stent/Fairfax NZ Sarah (surname withheld by request), a Lower Hutt mother of 5 who has been homeless, currently lives in a small home and sleeps on the couch.

It also says the Government should build more affordable houses, reduce the cost of home building, and tackle property speculators.

The thousands of Kiwis without shelter cost over $250 million a year to take care of, the report says.

Te Puea Marae chairman Hurimoana Dennis, whose South Auckland marae helped 181 people in need of housing earlier this year, said bureaucracy was one of the biggest problems facing homeless Kiwis who needed support.

ONE NEWS NOW Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party have been touring the country hearing submissions on their inquiry.

"The emergency social housing pathway, it works out to about six phone calls, five meetings, six letters and every acronym you could possibly think of - how are our people supposed to understand what that looks like?"

MUMS AND DADS AND KIDS AFFECTED

The diversity of Kiwis affected by homelessness was the biggest surprise for many, Dennis said.

"Homelessness is not new thing, rough sleeping is not new, what's new to everyone...is that there are now mums and dads and kids: that blew us away, it would be safe to say it blew the whole country away, and what's what kept us going."

Labour leader Andrew Little said the inquiry had revealed issues about a lack of coordination between Work and Income and Housing New Zealand that was "within their powers to fix today", along with a shortage of affordable and state housing that would take longer to resolve.

"It is about political will - the gap is there, the need is there, we've got to get on and do it."

RECOMMENDATIONS 'COMING FROM THE PEOPLE'

Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox said Deputy Prime Minister Bill English had told her the Government would consider implementing any new recommendations from the inquiry, and she hoped he would be true to his word.

"These are recommendations that are coming from the people...they have been supported by the stories that we have heard and the depth of feeling behind them has been backed up by the stories that we have heard.

"We sit alongside the Government and we challenge them on those things, and if they don't [take action], they'll find themselves wanting at the next election - it's as simple as that."

DON'T PLAY THE BLAME GAME - GREENS

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the Government needed to act to help the homeless, rather than "playing the blame game" over their circumstances.

"Some of us are lucky to have some backstops - too many are not so lucky...let's not try to find excuses for not working with these families who need help - they need help, they need it know, and we can deliver it."

Labour and the Greens announced the unofficial inquiry into homelessness after National MPs blocked their attempt to open an official investigation by Parliament's social services committee, with the Maori Party later agreeing to take part.

'REASONABLY CONSISTENT' WITH GOVT PLANS

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett said some of the estimated costs of homelessness appeared too high, including the $250m annual cost to New Zealand.

"It's certainly not a figure I've seen before...it certainly sounds high, so I'd have to see what that was made up of to see if it had any validity behind it."

However, Bennett said the Government had already been working on some of the recommendations, while she was willing to consider changes to other areas such as the accommodation supplement to help people pay for housing.

"You have to say that it goes right back to 2005 levels and there's no way rents are still in line with that, so I'm always willing to have a look at that."

Prime Minister John Key said the recommendations were "reasonably consistent with what the Government's already doing", but he would read the report and consider whether any ideas should be adopted.

"We've been working on this issue for quite some time, but we've never said we've got a monopoly on good ideas, so if there's one or two things that come out of it, we'll have a look at it."