Urban housing in Newtown, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Urban housing in Newtown, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Successive governments have spent almost $16.5 million over the past four years on buying motels across the country, which have been converted into emergency housing.
At the same time, the amount of money the Government has been spending on emergency housing grants has increased dramatically to close to $1m aday.
National says this shows New Zealand's housing system is "bursting at the seams".
But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the previous government needs to take some responsibility for the issues with New Zealand's housing.
"We knew during Covid-19, in particular, we needed to make it easier for people to access government support, and we have done that," she told the House in early December.
Newly released data shows that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has bought seven motels since 2016.
Three are in the East Coast and Hawke's Bay region and collectively cost almost $6m. All three were purchased in 2017.
One in Palmerston North was bought for $1.1m in 2018; $3.3m was spent this year on a motel in Porirua; and in 2016 the Government purchased an Auckland motel for $2.7m.
The most expensive purchase was in 2018 when the Government bought a motel in Blenheim for $3.6m.
The seven motels were purchased under both National and Labour-led governments.
A spokesperson for housing agency Kāinga Ora said the motels were bought to meet the urgent need to provide a warm, dry and safe place for people and families to stay.
The spokesperson added that the motels have been upgraded to make sure they are suitable for people and families to stay for a short time, while they find a more permanent place to live.
National Party list MP Nicola Willis at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand. 4 June 2020 New Zealand Herald Photograph by Mark Tantrum
There are 80 places across the seven motels. In comparison there are 66,000 state homes in New Zealand.
But National's housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis said that the Government's motel purchasing programme is just one piece of New Zealand's housing problems.
"These motel purchases show a housing system that is bursting at the seams," she said.
"They are a sorry symptom of our chronic housing shortage, with a record high number of New Zealanders waiting for a state house and thousands more needing emergency grants to live in a government-funded motel."
The latest data from HUD shows $83m had been spent on emergency housing special needs grants in the third quarter of this year.
Across 90 days, that works out to be $922,000 HUD spends a day on emergency housing.
"While these problems have built up under successive governments, the situation is worse than it's ever been. It's a sad indictment on Labour's failure to get on top of New Zealand's housing woes, despite their promises to do so," Willis said.
But, speaking in the House, Ardern said National needs to take responsibility for its part in New Zealand's housing woes.
"I do acknowledge that under the National Government they, in fact, cut the [housing] register so roughly 4500 were taken off it.
"What we have now is a much more accurate picture of need. Imagine the situation had we not continued to increase government support."
