12. Question No. 12—Housing (Homelessness)NICOLA WILLIS (National) to the Associate Minister of Housing (Homelessness)Question No. 12—Housing (Homelessness)12. NICOLA WILLIS (National) to the Associate Minister of Housing (Homelessness): Does she stand by her statement that some children in emergency housing are living in inhumane conditions … not suitable for any humans but certainly not suitable for young people"; if so is she satisfied she is adequately exercising her responsibility for oversight of "progress on the support and prevention pillars for individuals families and whānau experiencing or at risk of homelessness"?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing) on behalf of the Associate Minister of Housing (Homelessness): Yes and yes.Nicola Willis: Does she stand by her statement "If we're talking about causing accumulative harm you know one of the worst things we can do is have young people in these inhumane and indignified living situations."; if so what specific steps has she taken to ensure emergency accommodation is safe for young people?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: On behalf of the Associate Minister what I do stand by is that I am part of a Government that is finally addressing the crisis we have around homelessness. We have more than doubled the number of transitional and emergency houses. In terms of the specific actions that we are taking in the coming weeks the one-year updating report on the progress of the roll-out of the Homelessness Action Plan will be released which shows that all 18 immediate actions of the plan are under way or in place. We are a Government that has finally taken homelessness seriously and put actions in place after inheriting a crisis from the previous Government.Nicola Willis: How many papers has she taken to Cabinet or Cabinet committee since becoming the Associate Minister of Housing and what were they about?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: On behalf of the Associate Minister the Cabinet Priorities Committee receives a regular report on this.Nicola Willis: Does she stand by her statement "I actually had a really good think about it and what I am realising and hearing is the increase in unaffordability is probably unprecedented." and how does she reconcile that with Minister Williams' statement yesterday that recent rent increases are "lower than the last few years"?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: If you look at the data you do see that in the 12 months we've had to March we've had an annualised rent increase of 1.6 percent. Probably if you removed the period where we had the rent freeze because of the COVID lockdown—that probably is more in line with the 2 percent to 5 percent increase on rents. But I can certainly put that more into context than if I were to think about a quote from a previous Minister who had responsibility for this when asked about homelessness and would people get a roof over their heads who said "Look I can't guarantee that." This came after an announcement of $41 million in the Budget for emergency housing over four years to fund around 3000 emergency beds over a 12-month period. However this was to fund already existing beds and the then Minister Paula Bennett said "It's just not tenable to deliver those as additional beds."Nicola Willis: What specifically has she done to improve the safety of emergency accommodation since I asked about it in Parliament more than six weeks ago or is her role as Minister Sepuloni describes it "She's out there scoping what's going on and feeding back and giving insights."?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: On behalf of the Associate Minister I reject the premise of the member's question.Hon Grant Robertson: Which approach does the Minister prefer: providing emergency accommodation through the system the Government has at the moment or leaving people to be homeless as the previous Government would have preferred it? [Interruption]SPEAKER: Order!Nicola Willis: Why has the most recent progress report on the Homelessness Action Plan not been publicly released despite her being briefed about it weeks ago on 26 March?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: On behalf of the Associate Minister as I said in reply to an earlier supplementary in the coming weeks that one-year progress report will be released."