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The waiting list for a state or social home grew by more than 1,000 in September, to 21,415 households.
This new record for the end of September continues with years of breakneck growth on the waiting list – the figure is around 7,000 households a year ago and is roughly four times higher than when the Labor-led government was elected in 2017.
The waiting list is made up of families and individuals who have applied to the Ministry of Social Development for a place of public housing and have been considered eligible to receive one.
About half of the households are individuals, while a third are single parents with children.
Maori make up about half of the households.
While they wait, many are “temporarily” housed in motels for weeklong periods. At the end of September there were 9,823 separate homes in motels.
READ MORE:
* The public housing waiting list exceeds 20,000 with more than 2,000 new homes in a single month
* Increased public housing waiting list: 8,108 households on hold in April
These motel stays cost the government $ 83 million during the quarter, or more than $ 900,000 a day.
The surge in growth comes despite a large state homebuilding program, with more than 700 homes built since June. There were about 3,000 more public housing locations in September than the previous year.
But this new building is not enough to cope with an increase in demand. A total of 596 households on the housing waiting list were housed in September, but were more than replaced by 2,269 new entrants.
National housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis said the new figures showed a public housing system “to burst.”
“More than a third of them are families with children. By the government’s own standards, they should be accommodated immediately. But, on average, they will wait almost 243 days to receive the shelter, ”said Willis.
He said people didn’t seem to be leaving motel stays, and the number remained stubbornly high after a mid-year spike.
“The cost has now reached $ 922,000 per day. People are not coming out of them. “
Ross Giblin / Stuff
National Congresswoman Nicola Willis said it was a symptom of broader problems in the housing sector.
The numbers for motel stays will not yet reflect a policy change made by the government in October to charge people a portion of their income for the stay, which has been criticized by the left. The Government argues that this charge is necessary to create a level playing field within the broader public housing space, as tenants pay for state housing.
Willis said the waiting list was a symptom of broader problems in the housing.
“While it is tragic for each of these people, it is also a symptom of a much bigger problem: the waiting list continues to grow due to the inability to pay for housing across the board.
“We have to address the root cause.”
Willis said the government should partner with more community housing providers to get homes built faster and could pass emergency legislation to rezone more land for commercial housing development.
“In Christchurch, after the earthquakes, the government put in place emergency legislation to free up land for construction and what we saw was housing developments taking off.”
Comments have been requested from the new Minister of Public Housing, Poto Williams.
