A housing advocate says New Zealand's homelessness is the worst she's seen in 20 years. 

The Government's celebrating one-year of its Priority One policy - which moves families out of motel rooms into secure housing. 

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka doesn't believe any increase in rough sleeping is due to Government policy. 

Lifewise chief executive Haehaetu Barrett says she disagrees. 

"We didn't have appropriate pipelining happening for people coming out of the motels who had been stuck there for more than two years - and a lot of the habits we've been seeing on the streets today actually started in the motels."

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