Sepuloni pleads ignorance over spending on private rentals

PHOTO: Carmel Sepuloni. (Source: rnz.co.nz)

Opposition parties are demanding accountability after revelations millions of taxpayers’ dollars was shelled out to private landlords for often substandard housing.

A report from the Auditor-General has found the Government had paid $37 million to use private rentals for emergency housing without any checks.

The minister is pleading ignorance.

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A frontline account of life at the edges – the homeless put up in unsuitable housing, at extortionate rates.

“The sleep out had smashed windows, the front sliding door couldn’t lock, the bedding was all damp.”

Luxury living paid for by the Government. For two-and-a-half years, it paid landlords up to five times the market rate – for homes deemed barely liveable.

Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said she did not know and that she was left out of the loop – a $37m oversight.

“It wasn’t something that they technically needed sign off from me for. It is something I wish that I had had oversight of.”

The remark, prompting incredulity from those across the sector including Monte Cecilia Housing Trust chief executive Bernie Smith.

“I would have thought that sort of expenditure the minister should know about.”

Can Labour tackle the housing crisis like its lauded party predecessors?

Māngere East Family Services practice leader Alastair Russell was surprised.

“I’m amazed that she didn’t know that. I would think that any initiatives to address homelessness would have been discussed with her senior executives.”

But Sepuloni said this incident from 2017 was due to the immense pressure that the ministry was under due to the housing crisis.

“The housing crisis is real and they made a decision that in hindsight was not the right decision,” she said.

Since coming to light, there have been no consequences, nor job losses.