Waiting list for public housing at record high

The waitlist for public housing has continued its march upwards, with

22,409 eligible households waiting for a state or social home at the end of November.

That was up around 1000 since the end of September and is a record high. It comes as both rents and house prices are surging in a red-hot property market.

The waitlist has exploded in recent years, growing by about

8000 in the last year and more than quadrupling since the Labour-led Government was elected in 2017.

It is made up of families and individuals who have applied to the Ministry of Social Development for a public housing place and been deemed eligible to receive one. The vast majority –

20,275 – are deemed ‘‘category A’’ – the most urgent.

The huge growth has happened even as thousands of state homes have been built, with the Government expecting to exceed its annual target of 1600 homes by almost 1000.

This is because new entries are coming in at such a fast clip: there were 2000 new households added to the waiting list in November, but just 660 households were taken off the list and homed. In the same month, 151 new state homes were completed.

The number of households that received the accommodation supplement also surged to 370,000 in November – up from 312,000 a year prior.

Only one indicator is dropping: The number of people receiving emergency motel stays, which has fallen from 6283 in May to 5320 in November. The Government has recently begun to charge those in motels rent equal to one quarter of their income.

Those waiting for a house are waiting for a median of 152 days, about steady on previous months.

National’s housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis said the figures showed a housing system that was ‘‘out of control.’’ ‘‘These numbers are growing because people can’t find affordable accommodation in the private rental market. And that is because we have a housing shortage.’’

Rents have been growing in recent months, with MBIE bond figures showing the average Auckland rent was $609 in December, up from $578 a year prior.

Willis said it was clear that the situation would not be fixed solely by public houses being built, and the private sector needed to be free to build more too.

‘‘That requires making it far easier for developers to build more houses. That means getting rid of some of the barriers that are currently in the way.’’

Public Housing Minister Poto Williams said the Government was still playing ‘‘catch-up’’ from National’s nine-year tenure, in which the net number of state houses was reduced. ‘‘Where National sold off state houses for nine years, we are building them.’’ she said.

‘‘The quarterly stats show that we’re projected to exceed our

2020/2021 public housing target of

1600 by 969 to 2569.’’

There were 2000 new households added to the waiting list in November, but just 660 households were taken off the list and homed.