The initiatives cost taxpayers over $1 million a day, it is stated
The New Zealand National Party has slammed the government for “failing” to properly address the housing crisis, emphasising that its initiative spends over $1 million in taxpayer money a day on motels for emergency housing.
National revealed that the government spent $82.5 million, or $917,000 a day, in the past quarter on emergency housing grants to help people live in motels and similar accommodation amid the housing shortage. This is on top of the $155,000 a day the government is spending on motels for transitional housing purposes.
National’s housing spokesperson Nicola Willis claimed that the figure was more than a 10-fold increase on what was being spent on emergency housing when Labour came into office.
“Emergency housing has spiralled out of control on Labour’s watch. Thousands more New Zealanders are being squeezed out of the private housing market by escalating prices and a shortage of housing options,” Willis said.
As part of the initiative, the government is contracting over 950 motels and boarding hostels. In the past quarter alone, 8,503 families and individuals were forced to live in these conditions for an average of 10 weeks, which would have been longer in many cases, said Willis.
“This is a disgrace. As Housing Minister Megan Woods and her colleagues have repeatedly said, a motel is not an appropriate form of housing,” she continued. “Crowded motels are becoming hot-beds of dysfunction with families reportedly being forced to raise their children next door to gang members, drug-dealers, and criminal activity.
“This is happening on the government’s watch, and it must take responsibility for fixing it,” Willis concluded.
