What we do
Under the National Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan Order 2015, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is the agency responsible for the coordination of the provision of temporary accommodation for people who have to leave their homes as a result of an emergency. This temporary accommodation function is distinct from ‘shelter’ and ‘emergency accommodation’, which is provided for short periods of up to two weeks by civil defence and emergency management agencies.
MBIE coordinates this responsibility through the Temporary Accommodation Service, which has supported residents displaced by:
- the 2025 severe weather event in Tasman and Nelson
- the 2024 Wairoa flooding
- the 2023 Cyclone Gabrielle and Auckland flooding
- the 2018 flooding in the West Coast, Nelson Tasman and Rotorua regions
- the 2017 Edgecumbe Flood
- the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake, and
- the 2010/11 Canterbury earthquake.
Depending on need, TAS uses short-term commercial accommodation or, where possible, existing, undamaged residential housing supply as temporary accommodation. However, when there is a shortage of accommodation or longer-term need, TAS may deploy portable cabins or relocatable houses to be used as temporary accommodation.
