Wilkinson Kate: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilkinson Kate: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 07 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17569. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.Hon KATE WILKINSON (National—Waimakariri) to theMinister for Social Development: What recent announcements has the Government made about providing support for beneficiaries to contribute to the Christchurch rebuild?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development): Yesterday the Prime Minister announced a new initiative and I was there as well called 3K to Christchurch which will help beneficiaries find much-needed work and will be able to assist with the rebuild. An amount of $3.5 million in new funding will go towards giving keen beneficiaries outside Canterbury a one-off payment of $3000 if they have a full-time job offer in Canterbury and are ready and willing to move there. The rebuild is creating thousands of jobs in Christchurch and unemployment there is down to 3.3 percent. I have just heard that we have had more than 50 inquiries already from people who are interested in taking this up.Hon Kate Wilkinson: How will the 3K to Christchurch initiative work and will it also apply to my own Waimakariri electorate?Hon PAULA BENNETT: To the second part of that question I am pleased to let the member for Waimakariri know that yes it will include her area. It is the Greater Canterbury region if you like where it goes to. We will target the 19000 beneficiaries aged 18 to 24 with work obligations who currently live outside of Christchurch although beneficiaries of any age can apply. The payment will help them with sorting accommodation travel clothing and actually getting there. We will work closely with employers to make sure that we connect them with beneficiaries who would be suited and would be willing to do the work. The job must be for over 30 hours a week and for longer than 91 days.Hon Kate Wilkinson: What other support for Canterbury has she announced?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Although the Christchurch rebuild is going at full speed the Government recognises that some Cantabrians are still struggling with the impact of the earthquakes. Yesterday I announced ongoing support for counselling services andhelplines as well as the Earthquake Support Coordination Service worth $13.5 million over the next 4 years which will pay for coordination support for up to 5000households. What the evidence tells us is that they can still be feeling the psychosocial effects of the earthquakes for up to 5 to 10 years afterwards. We want to continue with that counselling support and this money will do that.Hon Ruth Dyson: In light of the fact that there are currently 495 priority applications for Housing New Zealand homes in Christchurch and that since the February 2011 quake rents have risen by 34 percent what provisions for suitable affordable accommodation are being made for these additional 1000 new Canterbury residents let alone local people?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Well of course there are a number of initiatives one being the accord that the Government has just signed with the council injecting another $75 million—[Interruption] You asked the question. Another $75 million is going into that to make sure that we can see that we are freeing up land and actually partnering with the council. But the point I will make is that we have seen students who can make amendments. Most of these are young people as I said they are likely to be single and they can go into flatting situations. I know the member herself said yesterday that you can see houses being rented for anywhere from $400 to $600 a week. If you took it on a room-by-room basis actually that is about $100 or $150 a room. They can board. They can go in with relatives. They are pretty inventive in what they can do. Employers themselves are there to help them with their accommodation. I just think it is a bit of a catch-22: if you do not have the workforce you cannot be building those houses.