MR SPEAKER: Question No 2, Phil Twyford
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatu) My question is for the
Minister for Social Housing. How many families with children
have been subsidised through the Accommodation Supplement
over the last six years to live at the Western Heights
Caravan Park in Ranui she described as being
not the right place “for children to be growing up in”?
Hon PAULA BENNETT Minister for Social Housing
Mr Speaker, given the time available, the Ministry of Social Development
was unable to calculate the exact number of families with children
who have lived at the Western Heights Caravan Park
and received the accommodation supplement.
If it would help the House, but I am not sure it does,
that I give an estimate, I would say well over 1,000, to be fair.
I have long acknowledged that Western Heights
is a far from perfect place to live, but to take away people
who live there the right to access the accommodation supplement
would be to take away a basic entitlement
that low-income people have to subsidised housing.
Mr Speaker: Supplementary question Phil Twyford
Phil Twyford: When she declared
“We will house more people in social housing.”
and that she counts people, not houses,
can she tell the thousands of NZ families
living in cars and caravans and garages exactly how many extra families
her social housing policy will house over the next 6 months?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: Mr Speaker, I have been the Minister for Social Housing
for weeks, not months, so we are still working
our way through actual numbers on where that is at,
but what I will say is that in April we introduced
the income-related rent to be available to community housing providers.
That is so it is not used in just State houses
can be used in other means of housing,
and will open up that availability so that people have better options
than just a State house that may or may not be available.
[Mr Speaker and Phil Twyford: Supplementary question]
Phil Twyford : Why can she not tell the House
how many extra people her policy will house,
given that she stood there yesterday, after 6 years in Government,
and declared “We count people, not houses.”
and “We will house more people in social housing.”?
Hon PAULA BENNETT : Mr Speaker, What we will be making available
is more places through income-related rent,
and I think the member can look forward
to announcements around that in the near future.
That will give some indication on what will be happening
with the social housing market and how many people will be advantaged by that.
Mr Speaker: Supplementary question, Phil Twyford
Phil Twyford : How does she expect
to house even the 5,500 people on the waiting list,
when, as the Minister of Finance said very recently,
they only put enough additional income-related
rent subsidy in the Budget to house 500, a tenth of the waiting list?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: As I just indicated,
the member can look forward to announcements
in the near future on the number of income-related rents that will be available.
Mr Speaker: Supplementary question, Phil Twyford
Phil Twyford: When the residents of the Rānui caravan park
sent her packing at the public meeting in September last year,
was it because they saw through her scapegoating of the caravan park
after having done nothing to add more social or emergency housing
over the last 6 years, or were they just being ungrateful?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: I have a lot of admiration
for the people who are living anywhere in Auckland, actually,
and particularly for those residents whom I knew well
from being their member of Parliament for quite some years.
What I will say, though, is that in the last figures I could find
in the short period of time I have had since
this question was put there, is that in August 2013
there were 28 people who lived at the park
who were on the housing register. There were only 28 that were there.
and in June 2014, 162 people were living at the park,~
and 28 of them with dependent children.
So, no, I certainly do not think they are ungrateful.
I think they do a remarkable job in what are incredibly difficult circumstances.
MR SPEAKER: Question No.3.
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