Public housing waitlist surges past 15,000 mark

The public housing waitlist topped 15,000 households for the first time in January as new public housing places are overwhelmed by people in need.

A whopping 1581 eligible households added themselves to the waiting list in January, while just 581 were housed.

That led to growth of the overall waiting list to 15,235 – up from 14,869 in December and well over double the 6182 eligible families waiting at the end of 2017.

The median time to house someone has risen to 147 days from 132 in December.

Meanwhile, emergency grants for motel stays grew slightly with 3335 people receiving a grant, up from 3254 the month prior, but down on a peak of 3490 in September 2019.

Auckland had the most eligible households waiting with 5597 on the waitlist, followed by Wellington, Waikato, and East Coast.

The Government’s build programme for state houses is just above its target, with 1298 public housing places built since the start of the financial year, above a target of 1290.

The steady growth of the waitlist has been a point of political contention in recent years.

The Government has blamed the growth on both a lack of new supply during National’s time in office and what it describes as a more welcoming approach to applicants, which has led to far more people asking for help.

The Opposition has blamed rising rents for the crisis, which it in turns blames on new regulation of the sector – which it plans to tear up if elected.

Rents have risen in major urban centres steadily throughout the past decade.