Emergency housing: Not even Houdini could make that many families disappear from the list – Editorial

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Editorial

EDITORIAL

Beware of Friday afternoon and Sunday morning Government press releases – they are dispatched to either hide a story over the weekend, when most people tend to switch off, or make claims that will take time to check.

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka’s Sunday morning release on emergency housing figures dropping was like getting a Sunday sermon from the pulpit of Parliament.

Hundreds of families have gone from emergency housing – almost one third since the coalition Government took over, and even better news, 1000 tamariki were the major beneficiaries of this new housing set-up.

“The Government’s plan to end the large-scale use of emergency housing is working, with new figures showing a 32% reduction in the number of households living in motels,“ Potaka stated.

“From last December to June this year, the total number of households living in emergency housing has gone from 3141 to 2133 – a 32% reduction in just six months. We have seen over 1000 tamariki depart emergency housing during this period.”

In just seven months, the Government had reduced the number of people and children living in emergency housing.

Bold, ambitious and, some might say, baloney because get to the end of the release and that is where the rubber hits the road as Potaka explains how those numbers have been achieved – and not by Harry Potter or Harry Houdini but by casting the net over the misbehaved and the malevolent.

Families most in need must now produce evidence of their housing situation.

Imagine asking a female escaping an abusive partner for proof of her and her children’s need for emergency housing for safety?

An emergency housing motel in Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner

And if you are a naughty emergency housing occupant and don’t listen: “After two warnings, if they [occupants] don’t meet their obligations again, they won’t be able to get an Emergency Housing Grant for 13 weeks,” Potaka’s release said.

So is it blame the people who need emergency housing and then penalise them if they don’t comply?

Labour says National is motivated by saving money rather than ensuring people have a roof over their heads.

“They’re making it harder to access housing and easier to be kicked out – we’re talking about people with nowhere else to go and now anxiously waiting to find out if they still have a home. It’s a cruel kick in the guts for New Zealanders who are already doing it so tough,” says Labour’s Kieran McAnulty.

The majority of New Zealanders will feel some empathy for those facing these emergency housing situations – especially for the children, who through no fault of their own find themselves living in these emergency conditions with people who may not be fit parents.

But kicking the parents out of emergency housing will only make it worse for their kids.