Emergency grants skyrocket ‘due to housing crisis'

Welfare payments for emergency housing have jumped almost 200 per cent over the last year, while hardship payments for food have risen 38 per cent.

The Opposition says this is due to the rising cost of living, but Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni says it is because of the housing crisis.

Ministry of Social Development figures for the December 2018 quarter, released yesterday, show 9.9 per cent of working-age people are on a main benefit, up slightly from 9.8 per cent in December 2017.

Sepuloni said the increases in benefit numbers and grants were due to the housing crisis, with Auckland in particular “one of the biggest pressure points”.

The Government announced in last year’s Budget that it wants to build 6400 state houses over four years.

Sepuloni said it would take time for the programme to have an effect on the number of emergency housing grants, but she did not want to say how long it might take.

“I’m not a clairvoyant . . . All I can say is that, as a Government, we’ve prioritised housing and we’re working as quickly and as responsibly as we can to address the demand.”

The rise in hardship grants for food was directly related to the housing crisis, she said.

“Obviously people are not having enough for their basic needs because housing costs are so high.”

National Party social development spokeswoman Louise Upston said it was “inexplicable” that Jobseeker Support numbers had increased as the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 per cent, the lowest since 2008.

“The minister needs to explain why so many more people are lining up for a benefit, while at the same time there aren’t enough people to plant Shane Jones’ ‘billion’ trees or to pick fruit from our orchards.”

Sepuloni said many factors contributed to how many people were on Jobseeker Support, including a temporary dip in demand for construction jobs in Auckland and Christchurch.

She expected demand to “ramp up” in response to the Government’s housing programme.