Twyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 30 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:420. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]2.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū)to the Minister for Social Housing: How many families with children have been subsidised through the Accommodation Supplement over the last six years to live at the Western Heights Caravan Park in Rānui she described as being not the right place “for children to be growing up in”?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Housing):Given the time available the Ministry of Social Development was unable to calculate the exact number of families with children who have lived at the Western Heights Caravan Park and received the accommodation supplement. If it would help the House but I am not sure it does that I give an estimate I would say well over 1000 to be fair. I have long acknowledged that Western Heights is a far from perfect place to live but to take away from the people who live there the right to access the accommodation supplement would be to take away a basic entitlement that low-income people have to subsidised housing.Phil Twyford: When she declared “We will house more people in social housing.” and that she counts people not houses can she tell the thousands of New Zealand families living in cars and caravans and garages exactly how many extra families her social housing policy will house over the next 6 months?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I have been the Minister for Social Housing for weeks not months so we are still working our way through actual numbers on where that is at but what I will say is that in April we introduced the income-related rent to be available to community housing providers. That is so it is not used in just State houses and can be used in other means of housing which will open up that availability so that people have better options than just a State house that may or may not be available.Phil Twyford: Why can she not tell the House how many extra people her policy will house given that she stood there yesterday after 6 years in Government and declared “We count people not houses.” and “We will house more people in social housing.”?Hon PAULA BENNETT: What we will be making available is more places through income-related rent and I think the member can look forward to announcements around that in the near future. That will give some indication on what will be happening with the social housing market and how many people will be advantaged by that.Phil Twyford: How does she expect to house even the 5500 people on the waiting list when as the Minister of Finance said very recently they only put enough additional income-related rent subsidy in the Budget to house 500 a tenth of the waiting list?Hon PAULA BENNETT: As I just indicated the member can look forward to announcements in the near future on the number of income-related rents that will be available.Phil Twyford: When the residents of the Rānui caravan park sent her packing at the public meeting in September last year was it because they saw through her scapegoating of the caravan park after having done nothing to add more social or emergency housing over the last 6 years or were they just being ungrateful?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I have a lot of admiration for the people who are living anywhere in Auckland actually and particularly for those residents whom I knew well from being their member of Parliament for quite some years. What I will say though is that in the last figures I could find in the short period of time I have had since this question was put down in August 2013 there were 28 people who lived at the park who were on the housing register. There were only 28 that were there. In June 2014 162 people were living at the park and 28 of them had dependent children. So no I certainly do not think they are ungrateful. I think they do a remarkable job in what are incredibly difficult circumstances.