Waitlist for state homes breaks another record
More than 12,500 eligible households are on the waitlist for public housing, a new record.
The waitlist has more than doubled in the past two years, even as the Government has seriously stepped up its public housing build programme.
The waitlist broke a 2004 record at the end of June when 12,311 eligible households were waiting but that new record was broken again with the July figures, which show 12,644 households on the waitlist.
Over the month of July, 768 households were housed. Half of those homed had waited at least 126 days for that home.
But the 768 homed families and individuals were replaced by 2005 new families joining the waitlist.
Special needs grants for motel stays have also continued a steady rise, with 3316 individual clients receiving a grant in July, up from 2969 in June, and 1797 in July of 2018.
Auckland has the most households waiting with 4910 on the waitlist, followed by Wellington with 1427 and the East Coast with 1043. The Government has struggled to get the waitlist down even as it has increased the public housing build-rate ninefold since 2016.
Its ministers have suggested more families have come forward since the coalition came into Government as they believe they will actually be helped.
New Public Housing Minister Kris Faafoi said that if the previous government had built at the same rate as it was now, there would be no waitlist.
‘‘This Government is showing a clear commitment to fix the neglect of the previous government and people are responding to that by coming forward asking for help, which is partly reflected in these figures,’’ Faafoi said.
‘‘It is why we have implemented the biggest state housing building programme ever, with funding committed to deliver an additional 6400 public housing places by 2022.
‘‘If the previous National-led government had built public housing at the rate this Government is doing, there would not be a waiting list for public housing.’’
National MP Simon O’connor said the numbers were saddening but not surprising, as the Government’s housing programme was scaring landlords away from the rental market.
‘‘The Government’s housing programme isn’t delivering.
‘‘And they are just making things harder not only for those who need social support but for the likes of landlords who have traditionally been able to help,’’ O’connor said.
‘‘They are increasing the cost and therefore it is not a surprise.’’
The Government’s only serious new law for landlords thus far has been the banning of letting fees.
Healthy Homes regulations do not come into force for several years, although an insulation requirement mandated by the previous government did come into force in July.
O’connor said it was the ‘‘anticipation’’ of the costs that was scaring landlords away.
‘‘It is the anticipation of the costs to come that the Government has signalled with its Healthy Homes changes. And they somewhat scared the horses with the CGT.’’
Auckland Action Against Poverty co-ordinator Ricardo Menendez-march said the huge growth in motel stays showed the Government had its priorities wrong.
‘‘The Government is spending over $23 million in just the first three months of this year on motel stays and this is a cost that just keeps increasing.
‘‘They are very happy to subsidise moteliers for huge amounts while limiting the amount of money being spent on free school lunches to just $45m in the first year,’’ Menendez-march said.
‘‘Moteliers are taking advantage of the fact that there are no investments in permanent solutions to our poverty crisis – if the Government wanted to reduce the spending, it would be spending more on things like free lunches and state houses.’’
He said the Government should not be ‘‘point-scoring’’ against the previous government’s ‘‘very low’’ benchmark but attempting to build enough houses to home the more than 12,000 people on the list.
In Budget 2017, funding for 6400 new public houses was approved – a little over half the current waitlist.
Auckland has the most households waiting with 4910 on the waitlist.