The Government's announcement that it will increase housing costs for some of the poorest families in the country is a sign that the Budget is making all the wrong decisions, says Sandra Grey, President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi.
"This change will take $380m straight from 84,000 of the most vulnerable households and give it to private landlords. It will make people in state housing even more insecure. It doesn't build a single new state house. It doesn't do anything to tackle the record levels of homelessness in many of our cities. It's balancing the books on the shoulders of those who have the least to give."
Grey says "By signalling this increase in accommodation supplement so far in advance, landlords will have ample time to raise rents for on tenants receiving that support. They know full well that those tenants have extra income coming. The crying shame is that the money is coming from social housing tenants who often don't have the $1,612 a year that the average tenant will be expected to find. This is Reverse Robin Hood - taking from the poorest tenants and handing it to the wealthiest landlords."
"Adding to that is the withdrawal of $200m from the pockets of the very poorest in the country through the loss of Temporary Additional Support. These are people who are truly destitute - you must prove that you have absolutely no income left in order to claim it. Where is the $200m coming from? Is the Government so broke from its unfunded tax cuts that it must take money from those with nothing to give?" says Grey.
"Cuts to public services. Cuts to benefits. This Budget does nothing to meet the needs of working people, nothing to help grow the economy, and nothing to help the thousands more people on Jobseeker Support than were forecast just two years ago. This change is a sign of whose side the Government is on. We don't build security in New Zealand by making tenants more insecure. We don't build security by taking away the tiny income support our poorest receive. This package doesn't build a single new home. The Government's Budget policies are simply building more poverty and more expenses for the future.
