We continued to play a major role in providing housing services
Since April 2014 we have worked hard to ensure that New Zealanders in need can access warm, dry and secure housing and support services for as long as they need them. We assess people’s needs, manage the Social Housing Register, and work with housing providers to match people to the right housing.
More people are coming to us for help with housing. At 30 June 2018 there were 10,589 applications on the Social Housing Register (combined Housing and Transfer Registers) – an increase of over 56 percent compared with the same time in 2017 [24]. We are seeing more new applications for public housing and fewer people leaving public housing for private rentals or home ownership.
We spent around $2.3 billion on housing support for New Zealanders. This includes Income-Related Rent Subsidies, Accommodation Supplement, Temporary Additional Support, Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants, and other support.
Public housing, transitional housing, or financial support for private housing are always our preferred first options to help people who are looking for housing support. However, we will do what it takes to make sure people in urgent need of housing have a place to stay. The Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant supports people with the cost of short-term commercial accommodation, usually a motel, while they find longer-term housing. In the year to 30 June 2018 we issued 30,714 Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants, which supported 8,295 households at a cost of $32.5 million, the vast majority of which does not have to be paid back.
We also work with other agencies to ensure that public housing meets the needs of New Zealanders. This work is described in more detail in the
How we work with other organisations to improve outcomes section.
From 1 October 2018 a new Ministry of Housing and Urban Development took over many of our public housing and transitional housing functions. However, people in need of housing support will still be able to access support through our service centres as at present.
Footnote
[24] Ministry of Social Development Housing Quarterly Report, June 2018.
