No emergency housing funding spent yet

Listen to the Radio New Zealand news report here.

Documents obtained by Labour show the Government was warned emergency housing was underfunded, unfair and unaccountable – just days before giving an utterly inadequate $2 million extra for more such accommodation, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“A scathing Cabinet paper released under the Official Information Act shows that as well an acute lack of emergency housing in Auckland, those in rural towns and minority groups such as people with disabilities, the elderly and the LGBTQI community are also missing out.

“To add insult to injury, Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett re-appropriated the $2 million from funding allocated for short-term housing in Christchurch.

“Homelessness is a growing problem, particularly in Auckland and Christchurch. The Salvation Army estimates there are 20,000 people homeless and that doesn’t include those sleeping rough.

“This funding is just a drop in the bucket of what is needed to address this problem.

Read more here.

A Radio New Zealand Insight report on 7 February looks further into the issues of homelessness in Auckland here.