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Social housing waiting list up 40 per cent on same time last year

Grant Robertson will deliver the new Labour-led Government's first Budget since taking power tomorrow.

The housing crisis shows no sign of easing, with the latest social housing waiting list showing a 40 per cent increase in the number of people hoping for a home compared to the same time last year.

And the Government continues to fork out millions in emergency housing grants.

But, the dramatic pace of increase is starting to slow, with it going up three per cent in the last quarter. That’s the slowest quarter in two years.

There are now 11,067 people waiting for a social or community home, compared to 10,712 in December.

The public housing quarterly report has been released today.

In the March quarter last year, the number on the waiting list was 7890. That makes today's figure a 40% jump in a year.

Housing Minister Phil Twyford says: "We have warned since coming to office that housing need will continue to rise as people realise there is now a Government that understands there is a housing crisis and is willing to help.

"That’s why we have seen a record number of families needing emergency housing grants."

Those grants help people to stay in places like hotels for up to seven days at a time. Most of the time, they don’t have to be paid back.

The number handed out was up 9 per cent compared to the December quarter – and up a whopping 93 per cent on the year before.

That saw 17,264 grants handed out at a total cost of $23.1 million.

There were 2697 transitional – short term – housing places made available in that quarter, an additional 28 from December.

The regions that saw the biggest increase in demand were Waikato, Central, Canterbury, Northland and Bay of Plenty.

Some facts and figures from the Ministry of Housing and Development Public Housing Quarterly Report:

The Government spent $717.2 million on housing support in that quarter – that goes on everything from the accommodation supplement to emergency housing grants.

Over this quarter, 1431 people were housed – a decrease of 19 per cent.

And it took longer for people to be given a home, taking on average of 107 days – nine days longer than the December quarter.

There are 2,407 people on the transfer list – those hoping to be moved to another public property. There are 68,280 public houses available across the country.

1357 families and individuals came off the state housing waiting list and into permanent homes

Over the March quarter, Housing New Zealand increased their number of places by 98.

There are 1261 vacant properties across the country.

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