Officials to probe under-fire motel
An Auckland motel accepting Government funds to provide emergency housing – while its residents appear to be living in unsanitary conditions – is reflective of a broken system, the prime minister says.
But where the alternative to motels was often cars, Jacinda Ardern said, the Government was in a tight spot.
She was responding to questions over a Stuff investigation, which revealed the Astro Motel in O¯ ta¯ huhu has claimed $3.1 million in taxpayer funding last year – $1m more than any other motel used by the Ministry of Social Development to provide emergency family housing.
Yet, Auckland Council building inspectors were forced to swoop on the property on Friday to conduct urgent safety checks, following Stuff’s inquiries, which brought to its attention that the Astro never had a Code Compliance Certificate – an offence under the Building Act.
The 30-unit motel is owned by a company, which through its name appeared to be set up to take advantage of the housing crisis.
Emergency Services Ltd was registered under Syed Family Ltd in November 2016 – just four months after the National Government introduced the emergency housing special needs grant.
Speaking to reporters at her weekly post-Cabinet press conference, Ardern said she expected officials to be investigating a number of claims made against the quality of the accommodation.
She said she did not have specific details on the Astro, however it was a situation she was not comfortable with.
‘‘Obviously, under those conditions and particularly given the amount of taxpayer money, I would expect officials to be looking into those conditions.’’
Ardern said it was not acceptable that the Government was providing any money to such outfits, but there was little alternative.
‘‘I have a real aversion to the fact that we are even in the position of having to use motels.
‘‘It will not feel like a good use of taxpayer money to anyone,’’ she said.
‘‘However, the alternative that we’ve had is that we inherited a real lack of transition and emergency housing places.
‘‘Now we, since we’ve been in Government, have extended and increased the number of public housing places by 1900, but that has still not kept up with demand.
‘‘We are still, unfortunately, in a position of using motels. I do not want to be in that position and I’m putting as much pressure as I can on extracting ourselves from that situation but with a tradeoff or alternative that is potentially cars, I don’t want to entertain that either,’’ Ardern said.
The Ministry of Social Development had confirmed it had received and resolved ‘‘several complaints’’ about the Astro, but said it would probe the latest issues uncovered by Stuff.
The motel’s owners have largely refused to respond to requests for comment on the allegations of substandard accommodation.
‘‘We are still, unfortunately, in a position of using motels. I do not want to be in that position ... but with a tradeoff or alternative that is potentially cars, I don’t want to entertain that either.’’
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern