http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/07/govt-admits-it-had-no-idea-of-emergency-housing-costs.html

At current spending rates, $50 million of taxpayer money will go to
motel owners and other emergency housing providers in just a year.

"We had no idea how much it was going to cost," Ms Bennett told The AM
Show on Friday morning.

"We had no idea it would ever be this big. No Government had ever
picked up the bill for this. No Government has ever funded emergency
housing."

Asked if the Government should have done something about it earlier,
Ms Bennett said that "in hindsight, you always wish you'd gone
earlier".

Social agencies have been warning the Government about the housing
crisis, particularly in Auckland, since around 2013. In September of
that year, Newshub reported on families paying $265 a week to live in
a caravan park. In 2014, social agencies told us housing was at
"crisis point" and the worst it had ever been.

Should Millennials give up on the housing dream?
Since then, housing prices and rents have only continued to rise.
Bernie Smith, chief executive of social housing provider Monte
Cecilia, says the situation has deteriorated since then - and the
worst is yet to come.

"You can't expect people who are earning $15.75 to be able to afford
their rent, pay for schooling, rent and electricity," he told The AM
Show.

And while it's hard for working families to get by, it's even more
difficult for those with mental health issues.

"My belief actually goes back to the de-institutionalisation of mental
health and other support services, where the community was supposed to
care for these people. Some of these people are quite complex, and
that's why we've ended up with many in a chronic homelessness
situation."

Nearly 24,000 homeless in Auckland
Mr Smith acknowledged the Government has picked up its game of late,
but "they've missed the boat" on building emergency housing, and the
current policy - a black cheque for temporary housing - is just
"keeping some motels open and viable", rather than solving the
problem.

Labour deputy leader Jacinda Ardern said much of the blame is down to
the Government's requirement of Housing NZ that it pays a dividend.

"It is galling to look at the fact that net, we have lost 2000 state
houses under National," she told The AM Show.

"Housing NZ has been returning a dividend to the Government rather
than building housing. The magnitude of that dividend means we could
have built 5000 state houses with the amount Housing NZ has been
giving back to the Government, instead of doing their job."

Ms Bennett said she couldn't give "actual numbers" on how the
Government's emergency housing build was going, because she "didn't
know we were going to talk about it this morning. I haven't looked at
it for about a year."
_____________________________________________

Of course the "useful idiots" continue to insist that we have no
poverty in New Zealand and all perople have to do is make the
"Right"(sic) choices . . . http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/07/nearly-24-000-homeless-in-auckland.html


National have failed - time for a government that cares about all New Zealanders, not just the top earners . . .

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* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)