“Some home owners could experience an increased risk of housing insecurity and financial stress as they will be required to contribute more towards their accommodation costs,” officials say in the document.
“Some home owners may also have less money available for spending on other necessities such as food, clothing, and transport.”
The accommodation supplement was introduced in 1993 under then-Finance Minister Ruth Richardson. Social Welfare Minister Louise Upston said in the 33 years since it has not changed and there is a need to “rebalance” it to ensure it targets “those with the greatest need, while continuing to support the most vulnerable groups”.
Upston said New Zealanders deserved a welfare system that was firm, fair and simple.
“New Zealand’s social safety net is important, but it’s also important the system targets those most in need, and that it is sustainable.”
Since the programme’s inception, “people with unsubsidised housing costs now generally pay a higher proportion of their income towards housing”.
Green Party MP Ricardo Menéndez March said the changes were the Government “stripping support from thousands of low-to-middle-income families who were already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis”.
Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March says people who access the accommodation supplement are already facing unaffordable housing costs. Photo / VNP
“Louise Upston will tell these families that there isn’t enough to support them, while on the other hand her Government has billions for military equipment, tax cuts to landlords and subsidies for fossil fuel companies,” he said.
“$42 a week may not mean much for a wealthy Prime Minister, but it is a lifeline for working families. This Government is leaving struggling home owners less able to put food on the table and cover their bills, while the rich get richer under Christopher Luxon’s watch.”
Menéndez March said people who accessed the accommodation supplement were already facing unaffordable housing costs.
“If the Government is concerned about the cost of the accommodation supplement, the answer is to build more public housing, implement rent controls, and tax wealth so we can redistribute that to essential services.
“Leaving working families struggling to cover the costs of essentials is deplorable. People deserve better than a minister who continuously turns her back on the people most affected by the cost of living, and the Greens will fight to restore these changes.”
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.