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From early next year, the Methodist Mission Southern will be delivering an innovative youth transitional housing programme to help around 24 young people living in Dunedin each year, Social Housing Minister Amy Adams announced today.

The Government has today announced details of the $100 million social investment fund for mental health, says Social Investment Minister Amy Adams and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman.

The $100 million fund will be invested in a package of 17 new initiatives aimed at helping New Zealanders suffering from mental health issues, as well as focusing on improving services and earlier intervention.

The new Social Investment Agency (SIA) was launched today to transform the way social sector agencies deliver services to New Zealanders in need.

“Social investment puts people at the heart of decision-making. It’s about improving the lives of vulnerable people by investing early in what we know will deliver the best results,” Social Investment Minister Amy Adams says.

Social Housing Minister Amy Adams has welcomed the 2015 Social Housing Valuation as the first step in building a more sophisticated understanding of the factors that affect vulnerable New Zealanders.

“Our first valuation of New Zealand’s social housing system sets a benchmark to measure progress and understand how effectively new initiatives are helping those most in need,” Ms Adams says.

Budget 2017 will invest an extra $224 million over four years in mental health services including $124 million in new innovative approaches, Social Investment Minister Amy Adams and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman say.

“Mental health is a social investment priority for this Government. It’s one of our most complex social issues, and it is having big impacts across the employment, housing, health and justice sectors,” Ms Adams says.

Budget 2017’s $321 million Social Investment Package will be targeted at improving the lives of some of our most vulnerable people, Social Investment Minister Amy Adams says.

“From reducing youth offending to contraceptive access for low income women, these are 14 high-quality social investment initiatives that evidence shows will help make a difference in the lives of their target group,” Ms Adams says.

The Government will be advising social service providers that their new contracts will not require the collection of individual client level data until a new data protection and use policy is in place, say Social Investment Minister Amy Adams and Minister for Children Anne Tolley.

“Our Social Investment approach is about intervening earlier to help change lives for the better. We want to be working alongside providers on ways data sources can help ensure our most vulnerable New Zealanders are getting access to the services that they need,” Ms Adams says.

Budget 2017 will include a $321 million Social Investment Package with 14 initiatives designed to help our most vulnerable to improve their circumstances, Social Investment Minister Amy Adams says.

“Social investment is about tackling our most challenging social issues – intervening early to help the most at-risk New Zealanders to lead better lives, become more independent and cost taxpayers less in the long run.

A new Social Investment Agency is to be created which will help social sector agencies better understand and meet the needs of our most at-risk New Zealanders and communities, Minister Responsible for Social Investment Amy Adams has announced.

“The Social Investment focus is fundamentally about changing the lives of the most vulnerable New Zealanders by focusing on individuals and families, understanding their needs better and doing more of what we know is most likely to give the best results,” Ms Adams says.