A Government decision to cut funding for a rental scheme means Auckland’s Monte Cecilia Housing Trust is struggling to provide homes for families stuck in transitional housing.
Last October the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) cut funding to organisations leasing existing private sector properties to help families out of temporary transitional housing.
Under the income-related rents scheme, families could pay 25 percent of their household income for a home. The Ministry would pay the balance.
Now that the funding has been pulled, however, Monte Cecilia Housing Trust chief executive Bernie Smith said there are a lot of families stuck in limbo.
“There’s no more additional transitional housing being provided, so our pipeline of housing has come to a standstill.”
Smith said with state houses in short supply in south Auckland, the income-related rents scheme helped get families who were struggling into more stable homes.
One woman – Papatoetoe resident Lillian King – has been living in transitional housing for the past 18 months. The property she lives in was provided through Monte Cecilia Housing. She has been on the state house waiting list since 2019.
The 29-year-old sole mother has children ranging from 8 months to 16 years of age. One, a 13-year-old, is autistic. She says it wasn’t easy finding the right property.
She had looked at properties in the private rental market, but says she couldn’t afford them on the sole parent support benefit.
“I appreciate everything Monte Cecilia Housing Trust has done for us, but I feel like we’ve come to a dead end.”
She says living in transitional housing is unstable and not a good place to raise a family. There’s nothing wrong with the house they’re renting – it’s relatively new – but it’s a short-term lease.
At the moment, Smith says there are over 27,000 applicants on the state house waiting list.
Housing Minister Megan Woods supports the Government’s decision to reduce funding for the income-related rents scheme.
She believes the programme was reducing the number of houses in the private rental market and wasn’t increasing the supply of new housing stock.
“We changed our policy last year to ensure the funding we supply to community housing providers also helps to resolve the severe housing shortage.
“It is important to note that no-one is being displaced by this policy – existing redirects are renewed or relisted as they become vacant.”
She also says the housing crisis is a direct result of insufficient housing being being built.
The Government is addressing the problem through increasing the amount of new public housing and supporting community housing providers, she says.
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