12. Question No. 12—HousingNICOLA WILLIS (National) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 12—Housing12. NICOLA WILLIS (National) to the Minister of Housing: Does she stand by her statement that Motels are not a suitable environment for vulnerable individuals families and whanau and they are also not cost effective"; if so how many people is the Government funding to live in motels now compared to the last quarter of 2017?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Yes and that is why we have a programme to supply 6641 transitional homes by 2024. In answer to the second part of the question in relation to what I have ministerial responsibility for 293 motel places were being provided as transitional housing in the last quarter of 2017 and in the last quarter of 2020 there were 907 places being provided. There were also 983 additional motel places provided as part of the Government's COVID-19 response in the last quarter of 2020. These are the additional places we funded to ensure that all New Zealanders had the opportunity to safely isolate during the lockdown. I'm particularly proud of what we achieved last year during the COVID-19 lockdown with one community leader saying "it's the closest we've come in a generation to getting everybody off the street." I do note there are other motel places funded that I do not have ministerial responsibility for such as through the emergency housing special needs grant administered by Ministry of Social Development. The number of clients receiving an emergency housing special needs grant has increased from 2880 in the last quarter of 2017 to 8503 in the last quarter of 2020. Corrections also provide accommodation. However figures are not centrally held and are not possible to generate in the time frame available.Nicola Willis: Is she really saying that as the Minister of Housing she takes no responsibility for the fact that there are on her watch thousands more families four times as many—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member will ask a question. You've got one. Nicola Willis: Is she really saying that—SPEAKER: No not again. Just finish.Nicola Willis: —are being forced to raise their children in motels on her watch?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I think if the member listened to my answer what she would have heard is me outline the bits that I have direct ministerial responsibility for—that come under the appropriation which I am responsible for—and what comes under the Ministry of Social Development for which a colleague has responsibility. I also pointed to the piece of work that I as the Minister of Housing am responsible for and that is the delivery for additional transitional homes. I do take absolutely responsibility for that because no I do not believe it is a place to raise a child—in a motel. But even more I do not think a car or a garage or a street is a place to raise a child. Now that member is a member of a party that in Government refused to admit that we had a homelessness problem. In fact after nine years in Government a petition was brought to this House calling on there to be a strategy a policy and even a Minister to address homelessness. In 2016 when there was finally some money put in to provide motel rooms Paula Bennett said that the 3000 emergency beds being funded through Budget 2016 were only funding what was already being provided because it was just not tenable to deliver the needed beds. So that member should hang her head in shame when it comes to homelessness.Nicola Willis: Does she take direct responsibility for the fact that her Government is now spending a million dollars a day to house people in motels and boarding hostels?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: What I also take direct responsibility for is the fact that we are a Government that is willing to admit address and finally get some action on the fact that we have a homelessness problem in this country. We have funded the provision of 6641 transitional housing places in this country. That is going to deliver more than three times what was available. We are a Government with a plan we are delivering on it we are willing to admit it and we are actually funding it. Hon Chris Hipkins: Would New Zealand have such a need for emergency housing if the previous Government had built additional State houses at the rate the current Government is building them?SPEAKER: Order! Order!Hon Chris Hipkins: Yes it's completely within order.SPEAKER: No. I think I have over the last recent time been a little bit liberal on Government members doing donkey drops about the actions of previous Governments. [Interruption] Not helpful if people want further supplementaries. The other point that I will make now that I'm on my feet is that I've been reviewing the Minister's answers to the questions. The questions to her are about the Government's response as she is the Minister responsible for that and she is responsible in answering the question for answering for all of the Government not just parts of it.Nicola Willis: Why is it that more than four years after Labour was elected on a promise to solve the housing crisis there are now thousands more people being forced to live in motels at a cost of a million dollars a day?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: What I can tell that member is that if she thinks that homeless people have magically appeared in the last 3½ years she has learnt nothing from the inaction and mistakes of her party when they were in Government. What we are is a party and a Government that is committed to finally owning up to the fact we have a homelessness problem in this country that we have a housing crisis and that we are putting the actions into place. Those homeless people were previously sleeping in cars they were sleeping in garages and they were sleeping on the street. I do not think motels are ideal but I would put anyone up in a motel over them sleeping on the street any day of the week.Nicola Willis: Can she confirm that the Government now has financial arrangements in place with more than 950 motels and boarding hostels across this country for the purpose of emergency housing and is this what Labour meant when it said it would solve New Zealand's housing shortage?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I don't have that number—the number of providers—in front of me because some of those won't be direct arrangements because they will be funded through the special needs housing grant but what I can tell that member is that this is preferable to having 900-odd cars available for people to sleep in which was the response of the previous Government. What I am still waiting to hear is what the alternative is that that member is proposing. Is she suggesting that we cancel those motel contracts and put those people back on the street where her party left them?"