Covid 19 coronavirus: Ministry of Social Development reveals what it spent on emergency housing during lockdown

Almost $100,000 in emergency housing money was spent by Ministry of Social Development in Whanganui during the Covid-19 lockdown. Photo / Bevan Conley

During April, May and June the Ministry of Social Development paid $94,000 toward emergency housing in Whanganui - mainly to motels.

The housing shortage in Whanganui was brought into sharp focus by the level 4 Covid-19 lockdown that began on March 26. People suddenly had to stay in their bubbles and could not be left on the street, Whanganui People's Centre manager Sharon Semple said.

The centre quickly helped homeless and insecurely housed people into other accommodation - and those who have chosen to stay are still there.

The ministry's help with emergency housing during those three months went to 56 households. It consisted of 112 emergency housing special needs grants, Ministry of Social Development housing general manager Karen Hocking said.

They are for emergency accommodation, mostly in motels, usually for seven days at a time. The average grant was $843.

That spend in Whanganui is just a fraction of the $2,491,703 spent on the same grants across the Horowhenua, Manawatū, Whanganui and Tararua districts and Palmerston North during the three months.

At the same time $1,278,495 was spent in the region on the accommodation supplement.

And that is not the only money Government is spending to keep people housed in this district.

There are also Transitional Housing and Community Housing Provider places here.

Whanganui's Community Housing Providers are the Salvation Army and Women's Refuge. People using them pay income-related rents, with the rest paid by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).

A third Community Housing Provider, Compass Housing Services, will soon have places available.

The ministry also provides products that keep people housed such as money for rent arrears, accommodation supplements, bond grants and help with moving.

There are now 198 Whanganui households waiting for Kāinga Ora (state) houses, and 544 who already have them in Whanganui.

Another 23 Kāinga Ora houses have been built in the district since 2018, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding and delivery chief executive Scott Gallacher has said 25 more will be provided by 2022.

The Government intends to build 8000 more Kāinga Ora houses nationwide by 2026, the spokesman said, and also increase the number of transitional and community housing providers.

MSD and HUD were doing most of this work before Covid hit and escalated the need, Semple said. And all these arrangements will carry on for as long as they are needed.

"So long as there is demand for more public housing, we will continue to deliver more public and transitional housing so that everyone has a home that is warm, dry and safe," a HUD spokesman said.