Housing Minister Chris Bishop says it doesn't sit comfortably with him that there is no guarantee of shelter for people on any given night, saying "we have a enormous challenge around housing in this country."

But he pointed out, that would have been the case under the last government too.

Last week, RNZ reported an admission from officials there was no guarantee shelter could be provided for anyone on any given day.

The admission was put to Bishop on Tuesday, and asked if it sat comfortably with him, to which he replied "no."

Bishop said he wasn't going to pretend "for a moment" there's not a challenge in terms of housing and homelessness.

"I've spent much of the last three years doing my best to try and fix it," he said, referencing the fast track legislation and "building more social homes."

"Last week, we announced 820 new social houses around the country, including areas that are really in severe housing need, like the east coast and the far north, for example, where we're now directing quite a lot of new social housing funding."

He also referenced expanding homelessness outreach services in Auckland, and maintained that emergency housing was available to those with a genuine need.

"I'm proud of our track record on it, but I don't pretend for a moment that we have solved the problem."

Asked if he'd like to see it guaranteed in New Zealand that people could access shelter if they needed it, he said a "legal guarantee would not be effective."

"What's important is that government services are effective, and that's what we're focused on."

Emergency Housing Minister Tama Potaka wouldn't be drawn on the issue of guaranteed shelter, saying instead what sat comfortably with him was that officials, agencies and community housing providers were "doing their very best to help those people who are rough sleeping and with a genuine need."

He said his role was to support those agencies to do that.

Asked if he was shocked shelter could not be guaranteed, Potaka said the context in which the question was asked had to be "very very carefully considered."

Someone might turn up at 2am, for example, Potaka said, and to access emergency housing you usually have to go at a certain time of day for people to process that request.

"So if you're saying every single second, every single minute, every single hour of every day and night, there may not be the appropriate mechanisms to enable emergency housing, which often goes through a grant and a bureaucratic process."

Potaka maintained he'd "regularly and consistently" said emergency housing was a "last resort" for those with a genuine need for a short term stay and temporary accommodation.

Providers have long critiqued the government's move to tighten emergency housing criteria, though, with many blaming it for the rise in homelessness.