The Labor Party promised a lot on housing, but has it delivered?

This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and republished with permission.

The Labor Party promised to reduce homelessness, boost the state’s housing stock, and build thousands of homes during its first term.

But with a record waiting list for social housing and the creation of just under 600 of its promised 100,000 KiwiBuild homes … how far has it gotten with some of its top policies?

DCM, an organization that helps homeless people find housing, is hidden on a side street behind Wellington’s Courtenay Place.

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Jackie, a mother of two grown children, is here for support from her peers, after a tough couple of years living in cars, garages and couches.

“I was doing my best to remain a mother, to work full time, to be a wife and daughter. But when you live hard, things get very, very difficult. “

The scars of that time remain.

“I was embarrassed. I lied to my kids about living in a car and garage. I lied to them for over a year. I told them ‘Mom and Dad are fine’ because we were still working, still pretending to be the perfect family.” .

After living in a garage in Northland, he returned to Wellington to start over and be close to his two children. But he struggled to find a home.

“We just weren’t lucky enough to get a rental property. We were going to open houses but there were lines, so many people, to the point where we did not have the opportunity to write our names.

The costs associated with a warehouse, installation of utilities, and furnishings were an additional barrier.

After living in a car for a while, she moved to a family member’s couch, which was when she connected with DCM.

It is now hosted, thanks to DCM, and is overcoming the aftermath of living a precarious life.

“I am very grateful. I really don’t think I would be here in this peer support group if it weren’t for [DCM] accommodation. I think that is key to my confidence, so that I can be there again. “

In 2017, the newly elected leader of the opposition party, Jacinda Ardern, wasted no time questioning former Prime Minister Bill English about the housing crisis during Question Time.

“If it is not a crisis, how did your government get into a situation where it needs to spend 139,000 a day housing homeless people in motels?” she asked.

After taking power, Labor pledged to contribute an initial $ 100 million to address homelessness.

But since then, the waiting list for social housing has skyrocketed to nearly 20,000 people.

DCM Director Stephanie McIntyre said that’s partly because the true number of homeless people is no longer hidden.

“Our experience prior to that was that it was very easy for someone to bounce off and disappear.

“There was a lot of smoke and mirrors around the way the list of homes was handled under the previous government,” he said.

Another $ 300 million in new funding was committed to address homelessness this year.

McIntyre praised both community groups and the government for their efforts to accommodate people, especially during the lockdown.

“We have had the most phenomenal movement from homeless people to housing.”

She was reluctant to say they were “housed” because most were in emergency accommodation rather than permanent homes. But in the past month, the organization has seen the biggest increase in permanent floor offerings.

Figures for June show that the current government has built approximately 3,000 state houses and created 1,400 short-term accommodation places.

Just under 3,000 state houses are under construction. McIntyre believes this is all a good start.

“The directions are spot on in the homeless action plan. But does it go far enough for me? Usually nothing does, ”she said.

“I would always like to see more emphasis, but we feel like things are going in the right direction.”

Judith Collins, a National Party leader and former housing spokesperson, said the growing waiting list was an indictment of the government’s response to housing. Although she admitted that not enough state housing was built during National’s nine years.

“We will continue to build them and we will continue to work with community housing providers to build them,” he said.

“We need to get started quickly with some really good housing, it’s a big problem. I love housing and I love hosting people. “

But Housing Minister Megan Woods said Labor was fixing the problem.

“The previous government ended up with 1500 fewer houses than it had at the beginning. So turning that tanker around, building 4,000 state houses in our first term in government, has been a real achievement. “

KiwiBuild or Kiwi failed?

The Labor Party’s flagship housing policy was the ambitious $ 2 billion KiwiBuild scheme. One hundred thousand houses, in 10 years, to relieve the pressure of those who struggle to find shelter.

The housing minister at the time, Phil Twyford, insisted that it would facilitate affordability.

But last year, KiwiBuild made Kiwi a failure. Twyford was demoted and Woods intervened.

“It is not giving the numbers we need, at the rate we wanted, and many of the houses it has built have been in the wrong place, in the wrong area,” he told the media last year.

It went through a reboot – the 100,000 home target scrapped.

“Instead, we will focus on building as many houses as we can, as fast as we can.”

Since mid-2018, just under 600 KiwiBuild houses have been built and another 977 are under construction. The government has also helped the private market build just over 1,400 affordable homes.

Sarah, the Wellington-based KiwiBuild buyer, bought a house from the plans for $ 500,000. It was the only way she and her partner could enter the real estate market, she said.

“There is no way we would be buying a place if it weren’t really for that.”

He would have had to shop “out of town” to pay for anything.

“And we really don’t have the time or the means to dedicate ourselves to renovating an old house that would need the kind of work that it would need somewhere that we could afford.”

Part of the KiwiBuild reboot was investing $ 400 million in progressive homeownership schemes for up to 4,000 low- and middle-income families.

Options within the scheme could include a rent-to-own model or share equity with a housing provider, with the goal of eventually buying from the provider.

Wayne Knox, general manager of the independent Maori housing group Te Matapihi, said that is a much better option for Maori.

“It’s a no-brainer that they should invest in progressive home ownership.”

Refocusing KiwiBuild was a sensible way to do this, he said, but more needs to be done across the board to boost affordable home ownership and rental for Maori.

Collins has been scathing with KiwiBuild from the beginning.

“We are not going to promise the land like KiwiBuild, to spend $ 2 billion on the creation of a government department and the construction of 500 houses.”

But Woods defended the program.

“What I see are more than 600 sales, more than 600 homes delivered, more than 1,000 under construction and more in preparation.”

As the elections approach, the Labor Party’s social housing policy remains a commitment to continue the work that is already underway.

The policy of the National Party is to work with community housing providers to increase the housing inventory.

This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and republished with permission.