Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
Question No. 2—Social Development and Employment
2. CHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment: How many applicants on the Housing Register, if any, indicated they were living in a car at the time of application in June 2023, and how does this compare to October 2017?
Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment): I’m told that the accommodation type at the point of application will not reduce over time, because it’s a cumulative figure and people stay on the list even if they are in emergency housing or transitional housing after the point of application. In saying that, in June 2023, there were 480 primary applicants who put “a car” down as their accommodation type, compared to 102 in October 2017 who put down “a car” as their accommodation type. I will also say that the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) will always consider people’s immediate housing needs to make sure that they are housed and that people do get their full and correct entitlement, including housing support products. What I will also say is that the more accurate figure is that this Government has added 12,198 net additional public homes between October 2017 and May 2023, as compared to that member’s Government, who left us with 1,500 public homes fewer compared to when they took office.
Chris Bishop: Of the 480 applicants she just mentioned as indicating they were living in a car when they applied for the housing register, does she have the data on how many children those applications involved?
Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: That is not information that MSD specifically collects, and I’m told there is no specific data available on the number of children currently living in cars. As I mentioned in my primary response to the first question, it is actually the numbers—the figures relate to primary applicants. While they may or may not have children in custody, there are some cases where the children actually live with family members, and that data is not captured.
Chris Bishop: Is she seriously claiming MSD don’t collect that information, when I have repeated written questions back from her senior Minister indicating precisely how many children are involved in those applications on a quarterly basis?
Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: Inasmuch as primary applicants disclose how many children there are included in their application, MSD holds that information. But there are cases where the primary applicant does not disclose that information, and that won’t be captured.
Chris Bishop: Does she think there’s a connection between the increase in rents around New Zealand of, on average, $175 per week in the last six years and the quadrupling in the number of families presenting as living in cars when applying for the housing register?
Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: As I mentioned previously in my primary response, the figure that the member is putting forth to us and using to assume there’s an increase in the number of people living in cars, I’m told, is not an accurate way of capturing that data. What we are doing is building our way out of a housing crisis that we inherited that was created by that member’s Government.
Chris Bishop: Is she saying that when someone presents to the housing register and ultimately gets placed into a social house, MSD don’t update their records to show that they are no longer living in a car but that they are, in fact, in a house?
Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: I am told that this is a cumulative figure. So when a person applies, if they then disclose that they live in a car, that is captured in the data that MSD keeps. They are not removed from the list, I am told, if they are in emergency housing, or if they’re given an emergency housing special needs grant or transitional housing. They’re only removed when they get a public house, and that is why we’re building our way out of the housing crisis that we inherited by delivering 12,198 more public homes since we took office.
Chris Bishop: Why do people living in cars who present to the housing register attract the same subsidy to go into public housing as everybody else on the housing register, when, clearly, their needs are greater?
Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: I am told that there is a higher level of support required for people and whānau living in cars and that there are services in place for people in this situation when they come to MSD for help. As I mentioned previously, MSD does ensure that they do get their full and correct entitlement, including housing support products. There are a number of ways in which people are supported when they present with a housing need, and that’s the support they get.
Chris Bishop: How many applicants who present to MSD as needing support, living in a car, are classified as A-20 on the priority list for social housing?
Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: I don’t have that information on me, but if the member puts that in writing, we can get it to him.
