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Home / New Zealand / Politics

Megan Woods not ruling out cuts to funding for housing for disabled people

Thomas Coughlan
By Thomas Coughlan
Political Editor·NZ Herald·
14 Jul, 2022 05:59 AM3 mins to read

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Housing Minister Megan Woods will not rule out cuts to state housing improvements for disabled people. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Housing Minister Megan Woods will not rule out cuts to state housing improvements for disabled people. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Greens want the Government to rule out cutting back on a programme that makes state houses accessible for people with disabilities in a bid to save money.

A leaked paper from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development warned that state housing agency Kāinga Ora's borrowing was becoming unsustainable.

The paper suggested suspending programmes to improve heating and removing "accessibility improvements" from Kāinga Ora's retrofit programme as ways of saving money, as well as leaving remote locations which were high cost.

Green Party spokeswoman for disabled people Jan Logie urged Housing Minister Megan Woods to rule out accepting that recommendation.

"It's absolutely essential the Government stop trading off disabled people's rights for fiscal gain," Logie said.

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"We believe that the goal should be for all of our homes to be accessible. Twenty-five per cent of the population have a disability. All of us could have an accident where we can't walk up steps, or need more space," Logie said.

Currently, only an estimated 2 per cent of homes were accessible. People in state housing can request improvements to make their houses accessible. Kāinga Ora has a goal of having at least 15 per cent of its new build homes accessible for people with disabilities.

Logie said she had heard of disabled people having to "shower at work or shower in their porches or wait an incredibly long time to find accessible public housing that's suitable for them".

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Housing Minister Megan Woods was asked whether she would rule out changes to the disability retrofit scheme.

She did not answer that question, but a spokeswoman said no decisions had yet been made and Woods had requested further advice from officials.

National's Housing spokesman Chris Bishop said the imbroglio showed why the Government could make better use of Community Housing Providers, non-government organisations that provide housing with funding from the Government.

"This is yet another argument to utilise the community housing sector, which has the willingness and skills to build social houses," Bishop said.

"What they need is a government that isn't ideologically obsessed with Kāinga Ora being the provider of new social houses".

The leaked document warned the agency's financial position was deteriorating, largely as a result of spiralling construction costs, which are not offset by increased income.

To illustrate the point, officials presented a cost comparison of what Kāinga Ora's building programme will cost using its latest 2022 economic model with costs using its "previous benchmark" from pre-inflation spike 2018.

Using 2018 economic assumptions, the average interest cost per year for each additional state housing place would be $14,457. The revised 2022 model used by Kāinga Ora has the average interest cost of a new place at $29,339.

Using the 2018 assumptions, Kāinga Ora's interest costs would be $571 million in 2025/26 - instead, the most up-to-date assumption expects those costs to be $842m.

Kāinga Ora's debt is now forecast to peak in 2033 at $28.9b - the previous benchmark had debt peaking much lower, at $20.9b.

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Officials at the ministry warned that they had "concerns with Kanga Ora's financial performance over the next four years and will be reviewing options on addressing Kāinga Ora's funding".

This review could involve the Government making direct cash investments in Kāinga Ora.

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