Other transitional housing providers are impacted as well says Monte Cecilia Trust chief executive Bernie Smith.

Smith says there are cheaper ways than private rentals to accommodate people who are homeless, and taxpayers should feel like their money is been wasted.

The Auckland Catholic Diocese's Trust delivers a wide range of housing-related services addressing immediate housing and associated needs, raising public awareness and influencing government policy on housing justice issues.

It also provides a range of wrap-around services aimed at building families' independence by developing the skills they need, however, the Ministry of Social Development stopped using Monte Cecilia after concerns about the impact their service was having on the private market.

The Government directed 37 million dollars to Auckland private landlords and property managers between November 2017 and June 2020.

"They never came to us or to other transitional housing providers that could' have provided homes at half or a third of the cost," Smith says.

Smith says Monte Cecilia made a complaint about it.

The Auditor-General has criticised the Social Development Ministry for renting private properties for emergency housing.

Last (financial) year saw 1996 families come to Monte Cecilia for assistance.

"These families had 4586 children, the country's future generation among them," says Smith.

"Where children experience or face homelessness and poverty, that impacts on their emotional and spiritual wellbeing", he says.

"It's so easy to blame homeless families for their circumstances rather than decades of Government inaction, market-driven policies, greedy landlords getting greedier, the rich getting richer, rising food, heating and fuel costs while these families don't even have a living household income despite being employed".

Smith questions how New Zealand has reached this point where poverty and homelessness are growing at such an alarming rate.

Monte Cecilia and other transitional housing providers had a housing supply line that created warm, dry, secure and sustainable longer-term housing options for families that moved them out of temporary transitional housing.

Smith is asking people to advocate with local and central government officials, pray and donate to support Monte Cecilia in supporting families.

"We continue to run programmes and all the things we do well - we just need affordable and sustainable homes to lease" says Smith.

​The Salvation Army's State of the Nation 2022 report says although the housing supply is increasing in total, much of it is unaffordable for the most vulnerable in the community.

Housing affordability in New Zealand has deteriorated to the worst level on record, with the average property worth 8.8 times the average income at the end of last year according to CoreLogic's latest housing affordability report.

The report says the generally accepted definition of "affordable" is house prices of three times the median income.

Source

• Scoop
• Stuff
• NewstalkZB
• Image: Stuff

Instead, the housing crisis has worsened.

"At the moment we're getting 20 to 30 calls per day. A year ago, it was 10 to 15 calls per week," he told TVNZ's Breakfast this morning.

"A year ago, we would have probably five or 10 families waiting for a housing solution. Today I can tell you we've got 400 families." Read more

They moved to Western Park Village in Ranui, west Auckland, at Christmas as a last resort.

"I hate it here," she said. "I want to move out, I want my own place. There's nowhere for our kids to play."

She had returned to Auckland after living in Whangarei caring for her sick mother but struggled with high rents and a lack of suitable housing.

She said there was nothing else available for her to move into, whereas the park didn't require a bond and the first week's rent was free.

She said hers is not the only family crammed into these one-bedroom boxes. "There's kids in just about every unit in this place, and there's quite a few units," she said.

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says a caravan park in Ranui in west Auckland where some families stay in one-bedroom cabins is up for sale and has hinted the Government may play a part in what happens to it.

"It has really been a problem. He has had it up for sale so there are, I believe, negotiations going on locally that Government is having some involvement with, so we'll see where that ends up."

"There's absolutely no way that people living in garages, people living in cars, people living in overcrowded situations and in caravan parks that are, at times, are quite poorly run is by any means suitable," Bennett said.

Statistics New Zealand defines homelessness as not having shelter, being in temporary accommodation, uninhabitable homes or sharing accommodation without privacy and personal space.

The Salvation Army and the Monte Cecilia Housing Trust say Aucklanders who are struggling to find a place to live are increasingly resorting to living in urban camping grounds and caravan parks.

Waitakere Housing Call to Action's Spotlight on Housing awareness week convener Lee Hickey says that at the moment there's a lot of emphasis on home ownership and very little on the 15,000 people in Auckland who are severely deprived of housing.

Hickey says the Henderson Massey Local Board area has the highest Housing New Zealand waiting list in Auckland.

West Auckland's Monte Cecilia Housing Trust social worker Louise Guy says the average three bedroom rental property out west costs $440 a week - that's $146 a tenant and many individuals and families struggle to afford rent.

‘‘A shortage of houses and rising prices has resulted in a sharp increase in rents.

‘‘Many people have little left to live on after rent is paid,'' she says.

Source

• montececilia.org
• Radio New Zealand
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Radio New Zealand

The Monte Cecilia Housing Trust in South Auckland says the plans must be part of a long term approach.

It says the problem is much bigger than overcrowding in state houses, as many families can't get a state house or afford private rentals.

Other Housing groups agree, saying the Government's commitment to build or alter thousands of homes needs to be just the starting point for fixing the housing shortage.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Image: NewstalkZB