$15.8m paid to one motel via emergency housing grants

PHOTO: Emergency accommodation motel. FILE

Three weeks ago, it was revealed that the government has spent $1.2b on emergency housing grants in the last five years. New figures from Stuff’s Andrea Vance show the Ministry for Social Development (MSD) paid out a total of $788m to house 37,887 people between March 2020 and July 2022. When the $1.2b figure was reported, it was noted that a large proportion of that had been paid out to motels. The Herald’s Isaac Davison (paywalled) had a breakdown of that in June. Yesterday, Vance reported on one motel in Manukau that has been paid $15.8m to shelter 621 people, all clients of MSD.

“Get rich scheme for motel owners”

National’s spokesperson for housing, Chris Bishop, has previously called the expenditure “a get-rich-quick scheme for motel owners”, saying the government “has washed their hands of the problem of people on the state house waiting list”. At the end of May, there were 27,000 people on the waiting list. A cut to funding last year that allowed social housing providers to lease existing private sector properties has left providers like the Monte Cecilia Housing Trust in Auckland struggling to provide homes for families who need transitional housing.

Tenant calls now defunct Auckland emergency housing ‘not fit for a dog to live in’

Project underway to cut build times

Minister for housing Megan Woods has responded to the figures and criticism of the funding cut to social housing providers by pointing to an emphasis on building new homes rather than always buying or leasing accommodation. As Stuff’s Dileepa Fonseka reports, Kāinga Ora is currently embarking on work to speed up the process of building new homes. Project Velocity, as it’s called, has so far cut the time it takes to actually get shovels into the ground down from 18 months on one project to two months. The need for speed is obvious, with cities like Rotorua anticipating the area will still require emergency housing for at least another five years.