Charging for emergency housing is ‘taking money from the poor’, says charity

A new charge for emergency housing is “taking money from the poor” who have nowhere to go, says a charity that works with the homeless.

The Social Development Ministry began charging people in motels and other emergency accommodation 25 percent of their income on Monday.

The policy, which is part of a broader plan to address homelessness, was due to take effect in March, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Acting General Manager of Housing for the Ministry of Social Development, Ed Ablett-Hampson, said the charge would apply to most of the 4,100 people currently in motels. There would be a grace period of one week to give them time to find other housing and support.

“For those who have been living in emergency housing and have not paid costs for a while, we understand this will be a big change,” Ablett-Hampson said.

The Emergency Housing Contribution was also part of a plan to move people to safer and more permanent housing.

But Mangere East Family Services CEO Peter Sykes said there simply weren’t enough affordable private rentals, transitional homes or social housing for them to move in. State and transitional housing was growing, but much slower than demand, he said.

Most of the people who lived in emergency housing had benefit payments that were already relatively low, and those payments would now be reduced by 25 percent.

“It’s about taking from the poor and giving it to the rich,” Sykes said, referring to motel owners who had taken advantage of generous government funding for emergency housing.

Ablett-Hampson said that if the new position caused someone serious difficulties, MSD encouraged them to discuss it with the ministry to make sure they received all the financial support they needed.

The policy change aligned emergency housing with other state-funded housing, such as transitional housing and state housing. It was designed in part to control the cost of emergency housing, which has skyrocketed to $ 83 million in the last three months alone, compared to $ 8 million per quarter in 2017.

Community Housing Aotearoa CEO Scott Figenshow said his organization supported a 25 percent charge for emergency housing, but only if it guaranteed the tenant safe, permanent and affordable housing.

Changes in rental laws earlier this year quietly removed the rental rights of people in emergency accommodation. Before the law changed, they got the same rights as tenants if they had been in a motel for three months or more. Now, they could be evicted without notice.

“It’s a poor offer,” Figenshow said. “They don’t pay for security and stability. So what do they get?”

Initially, the motels were intended to be a stopgap measure to house the most vulnerable people for no more than a week. When the government announced the new position in February, it said people were staying an average of seven weeks.

Lonely mother Angelique Dixon, who has six children, said she had been in a hotel in Hamilton for 10 weeks, with two rooms for her family.

He said the Work and Income support was generous, about $ 800 a week, and that he could probably afford the 25 percent fee. Others who had a lower benefit could have problems, he said.

Dixon’s main problem was that he was struggling to find another place to go. There were 1,300 people waiting for social housing in Hamilton, and he found it difficult to find a private rental due to his large family.

Dixona said her last landlord had taken her to Lease Court after falling behind on rent, which meant the landlords had blacklisted her.

“If I were alone, I would live under a bridge if I had to. But children need stability, they can’t live like this, they can’t live in a hotel or motel, it’s not fair to them.”

Dixon accepted that his was an unusual case due to his large family, but said that smaller families currently face the same barriers to entering rental properties.

The contribution to emergency housing has been politically divisive. It was initially backed by the Green Party, but the party later revoked its support, saying it should be delayed indefinitely.