Public housing waitlist trebles in three years, more than 5300 in motels, up up up go the numbers, Socialism has failed

The number of people on the waitlist for public housing reached a record high of 23,687 in March, newly released data shows. The number has trebled in the past three years, and grew by 428 households in just one month. Emergency motel stays have also been growing, with 5315 Kiwis staying in one during March – despite a move by the Government to start charging for them. National’s housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis said the situation was a “disgrace” caused by spiralling rents in the private market. “Labour is failing to provide stable housing to more than 23,000 New Zealanders in desperate need. The numbers just get worse every month. Behind the figures are families and individuals who are bearing the brunt of an underlying shortage of housing,” Willis said. A resident of an emergency motel in Wellington. KEVIN STENT/STUFF A resident of an emergency motel in Wellington. “More and more people are ending up in emergency housing motels as a result. Living week-to-week in unstable and often unsafe conditions – there are now thousands of families raising their children in these situations. It’s a disgrace.” Even as the Government has poured money into new state and social homes, exceeding the March build target by 800 homes, it hasn’t been able to keep up with an explosion in demand. READ MORE: * Public housing waitlist hits new record of 22,803 as new builds slow in January * Public housing waitlist climbs again, to record 22,521 households * Public housing waitlist grows by 1000 in two months to new record high as high rents hit the poor In March the Government managed to secure a home for over 700 households on the list – but this gain was obliterated by the close to 2000 households who were added to it. Those on the list can expect to wait for a while, as the median time to get them into a house was 118 days. This is a significant drop on the median for February, which was 183 days. Those on the waitlist are overwhelmingly considered high priority by the Government, with 91 per cent in the “Priority A” category. Around half of the households on the waitlist were people living alone, while a third were sole-parent families. Half were Māori and over half were under the age of 40. Public Housing Minister Poto Williams said the Government was still playing catch-up after years of neglect from National. “The housing crisis we inherited was decades in the making. But the reality is – we’re playing catch up. Where National sold off state houses for nine years, we are building them. And we’re building them at pace,” Williams said. “We are on track to fund and deliver 18,450 new public and transitional housing places by 2024. The Government’s Large Scale Projects are set to deliver a mix of 40,000 state and market homes over the next 10-15 years.” She also said a “culture change” at the Ministry of Social Development said more people were coming forward. “Our Government has made changes to ensure the Register reflects the true state of housing need in New Zealand, including through ensuring those who need help get it, particularly by changing the culture at MSD,” Williams said. “We inherited a housing crisis that the previous government ignored and we are determined to fix. We are making good progress, but it will take more time.” Willis said the list was growing four times faster than the Government was building houses and a new plan was needed. She said recent interventions in the market by the Government were likely to cause “churn” in the rental market, sending more people onto the waitlist. MORE FROM HENRY COOKE • CHIEF POLITICAL REPORTER henry.cooke@stuff.co.nz Rental inflation has outpaced both income and price inflation in recent years, with a particular spike beginning in 2016.