And let's get real: if they can afford a car, they can't be doing too badly, can they?
Whining do-gooders have long been agitating for rental properties to have a "warrant of fitness" so those who cannot afford their own homes can at least be secure in the knowledge that their shelter meets a few minimum standards. Now it turns out many people are already living in accommodation that has a warrant of fitness.
You may well ask what it is that drives people to live in their cars. Is it the lure of the open road? Is it the promise of freedom that comes from having your own wheels, relishing the invigorating feeling of the wind blowing through your hair as you cough and sneeze through another winter? Or is it just the inevitable result of years of economic policy that has consigned those on the lowest rung of the economic ladder to systemic inter-generational penury?
Whatever the reason, let us rejoice that suddenly many problems have been solved at once. There's no need for the Government to pretend to have the slightest interest in providing social housing when our city centres are well equipped with parking buildings that can provide shelter for hundreds of families.
The Aotea Centre carpark, for instance, has 928 spaces and a monthly rate of $410 so can provide affordable accommodation for up to 4640 people.
The taxpayer will benefit from huge savings in administrative costs when we combine the roles of Minister of Social Housing and Minister of Transport.
Paula Bennett will no longer have to pretend to "continue to engage with the Salvation Army" to find homes for poor people. Instead, she can engage with the live wires of the Motor Trade Association, whom I'm sure she would find more congenial.
Cars are the perfect form of accommodation for the poor. In the unlikely event they can find worthwhile employment, rather than a pretend job to make the figures look good, they can reduce travelling time because they are already on the road when they wake up.
Admittedly most cars lack basic plumbing, but our cities are furnished with numerous well-maintained public toilets where the indigent can perform basic ablutions.
And, because these are the sort of people who live on chips and soft drinks because that's pretty much all they can afford to fill up their kids' stomachs, they have no need for such luxuries as fridges and stoves.
They also know that kids don't need expensive electronic toys to have a good time. The amount of fun that can be had with a glovebox and your imagination can't be over-estimated.
Finally - and this is the real beauty of having poor people living in cars - cramped conditions mean that reproduction will be out of the question, ending the cycle of welfare dependency in a generation or two.
