Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she regrets saying social housing tenants have "won the lotto".
The government today announced a major shake-up of social housing beginning in this year's Budget - which will boost weekly support for 110,000 families by almost $15 but leave another 80,000 families worse off by $30 a week.
The change will be paired with more stringent criteria for getting a social house - and possibly new tenancy duration limits and regular check-ins.
In response to questions this afternoon, Willis said people on low incomes in private housing were getting a worse deal than social housing tenants, who had "effectively have won the lotto".
But hours later, she issued a statement saying she regretted using those words.
"People living in social housing are often in very difficult circumstances and the phrase I used implied otherwise.
"I reached for the wrong metaphor when trying to make a point about fairness in the housing system. I will not be using this phrase again."
Cruel policy, say Opposition parties
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the government was "cruel and mean" to hike rents during a cost-of-living crisis.
"Make no bones about it. This is a government that does not care about people on low incomes ... the people who benefit from an increase in the accommodation supplement are private sector landlords."
He refused to say if Labour would reverse it until after next week's Budget, but said those losing out would include 34,000 people with children, 30,000 pensioners and 27,000 people with disabilities.
"If Winston Peters wants to boot out pensioners from social housing, he should say so. I'm astounded that Winston Peters, who claims to be a champion for superannuitants, is now basically condoning a hike in rent for the lowest income pensioners."
"Increasing their rents by another five percent relative to their income is a massive blow to them. They already can't make their ends meet ... this is going to be an absolute body blow to people who already can't keep their head above water."
He believed the answer was to build more public housing.
"We built about 18,000 new houses during the time we were in government, some of those finished after the election ... by contrast, this government's selling them off."
Labour's housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said it was nothing more than a plan to remove support from struggling New Zealanders to save money.
"Christopher Luxon and Chris Bishop are trying to dress up rent hikes and benefit cuts as 'independence'. You do not help families into independence by making them poorer."
"The reason that people are in Kāinga Ora housing is because they can't afford the private rental market, so it's a stupid argument to make."
Increasing rents by 20% on top of unaffordable food costs, power bills and medical bills was "simply cruel", she said.
"It's totally out of touch with reality, and out of touch with the fact that there are thousands of people on the public housing wait list who can't access a private flat, who need a Kāinga Ora flat, and that's the only option for them."
She had asked Bishop in recent weeks if he was considering adjusting accommodation supplements or the Income-Related Rent Subsidy.
"He said no - and look what they've done."
Social development spokesperson Ricardo Menendez March said the government wanted to make social housing tenants and those in poverty "pay the price for their austerity".
"If the government is concerned about the high cost of accommodation for people in private housing, they need to build more public housing.
"They need to maybe not strip support from the accommodation supplement from those very same people. This is a government that is taking away from our poorest at a time of a cost-of-living crisis, and then turns their back on them and blames them for the very same crisis that they manufactured."
The Greens warned the government's changes would lead to more public housing tenants evicted and driven deeper into poverty.
Changes to reduce unfairness - Willis
But the Finance Minister argued the changes were not about cutting costs, but reducing unfairness.
"If you're in a state home and you compare how much income you have with someone in a private rental who's got exactly the same income as you, you're $110 a week better off," Nicola Willis said earlier today.
"These changes are about making the system fairer. At the moment, people in social housing effectively have won the lotto, they get so much more support than a family with just as lower income in a private rental. That's not fair, and our changes are about fixing it."
She did not think social housing tenants would necessarily feel like lotto winners, but said it was unfair on the families who did not have access to social housing.
"Most social housing tenants, after the changes the government's putting forward, will still be better off than households with similar income levels and private rentals, And in fact, 110,000 families in private rentals will be better off as a result of the Budget."
She pushed back on suggestions the money would just go into landlords' pockets, saying it was a different situation to when she had attacked an increase in student allowances for that reason when in Opposition.
"That was quite different, because what happened there was that you had students in one fell swoop get a significant increase in income at a time in the rental market when there were simply not enough houses.
"[Social housing tenants'] income each week will be ... on average $15 higher a week as a result of the government's changes. That will not be a prompt for landlords to increase their rents, because actually what our government is doing at the same time is we are working very hard to increase the supply of housing in this country, including by fast-tracking housing developments."
Social housing was needed in New Zealand for supporting vulnerable people, she said, but "actually, we need it focused on those who are most vulnerable".
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |
