Wellington City Council

Is Wellington City Council investing in the right services to support people experiencing homelessness in Pōneke? FrankAdvice reviewed its investments in programmes and services over the past five years aimed at addressing this persistent challenge.

FrankAdvice assessed information to answer two questions: how effectively have these services and programmes addressed homelessness in Pōneke Wellington, and given this assessment, is WCC investing in the right programmes and services, or are changes needed. To answer these questions, FrankAdvice reviewed the Council’s expenditure on homelessness by reviewing contracts and outcomes reports and assessing the outputs and outcomes against a set of criteria. We also scanned literature and compared approaches taken in other locations, as well as engaging with NGOs funded by the Wellington City Council to further understand their expenditure, the value of their services and programmes, and to gain their perspectives on priorities and gaps in services in Pōneke Wellington.

Our team then used the Treasury’s CBAx tool to assess the benefits and costs of the Council’s homelessness investments. This involved collecting information about the outcomes achieved over the past five years from Council and NGOs, using this information and background research to identify and monetise the benefits achieved, then comparing these benefits to the costs to calculate the social return on investment.

We then synthesised this information to determine the overall effectiveness of the investments and identify gaps. This was documented in a comprehensive written report including findings and recommendations, and presented in person to Council.

See the A3 below for a summary of this work and pages 61-117 for the full report here.