Motels no cure for a housing emergency

The homeless deserve to be treated with dignity and respect

For some younger New Zealanders, all they’ll ever associate with housing in this country is “crisis”. Just as it’s going to take years to legislate and build our way out of the current situation, it took a while to get here. Commentators often point to a 2007 speech made by then Opposition leader John Key publicly acknowledging a “housing affordability crisis”. Unfortunately, his subsequent Government went on to deny its existence for years to come.

Since then, it’s been a rather hopeless run of navigating options that barely touch the drivers of the housing and accommodation shortage. Now, at least, we’re all on the same page — including on emergency housing.

The current approach of using motels and boarding hostels for individuals and families waiting for more permanent housing options seems to have near-unanimous agreement that it simply isn’t working. For months, those in emergency housing, moteliers themselves and social service providers have highlighted poor and dysfunctional living conditions. Tied situation: “I have lived here for two months . . . and before that I was living on the street.”

When asked about the $1700 weekly cost and state of facilities, her answer demonstrated why even substandard motels are considered viable accommodation options. “I felt like I was blessed and I’m grateful and I’m happy and I’m no longer on the street, and I can clean my body.”

The sentiment is emblematic of the wider cycle of emergency housing/ motel dependency we’re stuck in. Absolutely top priority should be given to securing basic accommodation for those like Teresa.

Also relevant is the fact that motels currently have that space in a housing market which isn’t offering a lot to anyone that’s not a homeowner. Not to mention, the secure income motels get via emergency housing arrangements.

It’s why the Government must step up and fix its own broken system. It’s been a year of increasing dependency on motels and boarding hostels, and even basic temporary checks like contracts with motel owners requiring maintenance of facilities are missing.

A hard reality check around the short, medium and long-term options for emergency housing is needed. Critical to that must be an assessment of what the Government needs to do to ensure those options result in safe, clean and dignified accommodation spaces. At the very least, it should turn up whether its current $1m daily expenditure in the area is good value for money.

I suspect, with minimal computation, it’ll show otherwise.