Bennett Paula: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett Paula: Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3532. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Housing): I move That the Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill be now read a second time. I think there are a few things that we need to clear up for the member who spoke at the end of the first reading Su’a William Sio. If he is sending people to Housing New Zealand to go on the waiting list and wondering why they are standing in queues for so long it is because he is sending them to the wrong place. That is now done by Work and Income. There are 147 Work and Income offices throughout New Zealand. They are front line so you can turn up there and that is where your assessment is actually done. I think it is really important that you understand—[Interruption] Go on—shout it out; get it out. I understand you are a bit angry about today because it has not gone quite as badly actually as you hoped it would. So first of all—Carmel Sepuloni: I can’t wait for the next few days—it’s all downhill from here. When we’re talking she stops. Keep going.Hon Member: Hey grow up.Hon PAULA BENNETT: Bring it on—bring it on. [Interruption]Carmel Sepuloni: When we’re talking she stops. Keep going.Hon PAULA BENNETT: All good? Finished the abuse yet? Get it out—get it out. Get the abuse out of your system.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order! Look I would actually like to hear the debate.Hon PAULA BENNETT: Thank you very much Mr Assistant Speaker. What we want to make clear is that what this bill can do is actually quite exciting. It is not necessarily about buying the houses but it might be. What it could be about is an organisation that wants to lease a house—yes? So currently it has land or it has got a house and thinks it wants to get more so it can provide for the very same people who we all agree need more housing.So let us go for a bottom line—we all agree that there are vulnerable New Zealanders who need access to higher-subsidised housing from the Government. So your argument is that you think the Government should own all of them land; we think there is actually room in the market for community housing providers as well as the Government. So we do not abdicate our responsibility in any way shape or form. In fact I am making a commitment that there is another $152 million that will be going in to help subsidise the accommodation of those who really need it. We actually subsidise accommodation in this country to the tune of nearly $2 billion and we are adding another $150 million.We all agree that there are vulnerable New Zealanders who are not getting access to that heavily subsidised housing and they should be. The disagreement we have is whether it should all be State-owned or whether there is room for community housing providers to also be doing that. We stand on this side and say that there is most definitely room for community housing providers to provide housing and wraparound services and how you do that is by passing this bill. What this bill actually means is that we can contract with those providers over a longer period of time and for some that provide specialist services for certain cohorts we can actually give them more money so that they have a guaranteed income that they can either borrow or lease against or provide more services. Community housing providers are saying that to us every day. We would like to be providing more housing. Whether or not we get that from the Government—right—so whether it is about them building more houses themselves going into partnerships or leasing properties what they want from the Government is a guarantee of income so that they can actually then use it against those things. That is what this bill does.This bill supports community housing providers as they are building the sector. It does not abdicate the Government’s responsibility to pay. In fact on the record we make an obligation that we will pay with certainty more than what they needed and asked for and this bill delivers it to them.