Housing wait-list surges
The public housing waiting list continues to rise, with 8108 eligible households seeking a place to live as of April 30.
This compares to 7890 at the end of March this year, and 6182 at the end of 2017.
The number takes in all households that the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has deemed eligible for public housing but Housing New Zealand or other social housing providers have not yet found a place for.
At the end of March, the average waiting time was 64 days for a house. The ministry usually releases the numbers in threemonth increments but it granted Stuff access to the April figures in response to an Official Information Act request.
Of the 8108, more than 600 were ‘‘priority A’’ – meaning they had the highest need. Just under
2000 were rated ‘‘priority B’’. A further 1819 were waiting for a transfer from one public home to another.
The size of the housing waitlist has steadily grown since June
2015. It is now well over twice as large.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford said the waiting list was a ‘‘real concern’’ and evidence of the country’s housing crisis.
‘‘A growing state house waitlist means there are people out there desperate for housing, and that’s why our Government is currently investing $4 billion in building an extra 6400 state houses and community houses over the next four years,’’ he said.
Twyford secured 1600 new homes a year in Budget 2018, up from an election promise of 1000 a year but down from his ‘‘ambition’’ of 2000 a year. This will bring the total number of social homes to around 73,000 by 2022.
MSD’s deputy chief executive of housing, Scott Gallacher, said the Government was doing ‘‘everything we can’’ to help people who need housing.
‘‘In May, we provided some
3500 households in immediate need of housing with somewhere to live and we supported a further
500 into long-term housing. ‘‘In terms of permanent accommodation, we’ve supported a total of 557 individuals or families into public housing during May.’’
At the end of March, Twyford paused all eligibility checks on current state housing tenants while working out whether the criteria needed to be enlarged.
National’s housing spokeswoman, Judith Collins, said this was the reason the wait-list had grown.
‘‘He’s cancelled having people being checked to see whether or not they are still eligible once they are in a house to remain in a state house, which actually means people could end up earning a big income or have a big inheritance and still be living in a state house needed for someone else.’’