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There are growing concerns that recent policy changes introduced by National are making housing more difficult for those most in need.
Morning Report to the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was asked Last Monday, he pointed to a specific policy that would improve race relations, not worsen them.
He said:
I want to tell you that we helped move 1,000 kids out of hotels and actually moved them out of motels between April and July, while reducing the number of people living in emergency housing by 32 percent.
Housing Minister Tama Potaka has made this claim before, and it feels like a carefully crafted talking point.
from RNZ Media Watch:
On August 11, Deputy Housing Minister Tama Potaka made some Good news on emergency housing numbersAnd announced that support had fallen by 32% during the current government’s term.
He from waikato times and other Stuff newspapers, which published “The number of children in emergency accommodation has fallen by 1,000, the deputy housing minister said.“”.
But in the report, Potaka did not say that the children were actually living in better housing, instead telling the newspaper that 300 children were in private accommodation and 500 were in “some form of social housing.”
This raises a number of questions, chief among them: What about the other 200 children?
Immediately after Luxon’s interview aired, Radio New Zealand reported The government has been warned that its crackdown on emergency housing could leave more people homeless.
This report is based on This cabinet document It reads:
Measures to tighten access are likely to lead to increases in rough sleeping, living in cars, household overcrowding and will disproportionately affect Māori given the number of people already entering (emergency housing). It is also likely to have a significant impact on children if fewer people enter (emergency housing).
This is a classic case of “don’t listen to what’s inappropriate” Removed the requirement for the Ministry of Social Development to consider whether refusing an emergency housing application would endanger someone’s life or welfare, or cause severe hardship.
And the trend is already heading in the wrong direction. Lauren Crimp of Radio New Zealand said:
Stephen Turnock, director of the Central City Communities Unit, which works with the homeless, said homelessness in Wellington was already on the rise.
He said the need for emergency housing continued to grow, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.
“What we’re seeing now is that the lines have been drawn and there is no intention to increase emergency housing provision, but at the same time we’re seeing a clear increase in homelessness.
“As a result, more people are becoming homeless and are forced to sleep on the streets.”
Tenok said that in the first three months of this year, the DCM was aware of 52 people sleeping rough, but that number jumped to 73 in the three months to the end of June.
National’s claim of confidence and success deserves serious questioning. It is clearly using carefully crafted talking points and statistics to present good news when the reality could be something completely different.
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