Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. E ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. I am pleased to take a call on Vote Social Housing for Minister Ngaro's information. I want to focus on this part of the debate on the Estimates for 2017-18: Vote Social Housing. Specifically I want to talk about three issues: homelessness; the social housing register particularly the waiting list for social housing; and if time permits emergency housing and the purchasing of social housing in so far as income-related rent subsidies are concerned.When I looked at this particular vote and what the Social Services Committee reported back to the House I was looking for some innovation—some kind of fresh ideas around this Government's so-called commitment to addressing the growing homelessness in this country. I was looking for that and when I looked at this report—I will take the Minister in the chair Alfred Ngaro through the committee's report to raise some questions and maybe he could answer them—what I found was anything but innovative caring policies to address the burgeoning growing population around this country in terms of homelessness. I want to say that in my electorate in one of my four electorate offices in the Hawke's Bay my office has dealt with 70—70—homeless families in this year alone. Not seven not 17 but seven zero—seven zero—in one electorate office in the first 6 or 7 months I think is an indication of your complete failure in your policies around dealing with the issue of homelessness.Let us look at what the Minister said when he was examined by the select committee. I want to acknowledge that this is a new vote and even though we are talking about $2.2 billion Minister you clearly have taken money out of the Ministry of Social Development and Vote Minister of Social Housing. So to me that implies that there has been some thinking in the background by those two respective ministries to inform the Minister: We have to bring this out." I have got to give you the benefit of the doubt. And so when I look at what has been done here and I look at the areas that this particular vote is addressing you actually come up rather short.Let us look at homelessness. You say that we have got 898 identified in 2017. We all know in this House that 898 people identified as homeless is so far off the mark it is not even funny. My question to the Minister is what process he goes through to identify homelessness. The Minister himself—actually in the report—said these figures may not be accurate. The Minister in this report actually says this figure of 898 may not be accurate. Oh well—there you go. There you go. There is this commitment from this Government which actually did not know whether this figure of 898 was accurate in the committee's report.Social housing—I want to talk quickly around social housing and talk about the register. It is my experience with the 70 whānau that have come to my Hastings office that a lot of them do not even get on the social housing register. If you are in a cramped one-bedroom or if you in a car as far as Work and Income is concerned you have got a house—you have got a house. That is how it is determining whether you actually get on the register. If you are in a cramped situation or worse still you are in and out of social housing with somebody in an overcrowded situation as far as Work and Income is concerned you are housed—you are housed. So the social housing figure that you have got here really needs to be tested. You also talk about priority A candidates actually suggesting that you will house people—this is your target—in 50 days. That is what you are saying—50 days. But hold on it gets better because further down it says by 2021 we will reduce the waiting by 20 percent—20 percent. So instead of waiting 50 days you are going to wait 40 days and we should be happy about that. That is the message that this Government is sending but you have got to wait till 2021 before we reduce it from 50 days to 40 days.I will just flag that I am going to look for another call. I am going to talk about emergency housing. In the report back to the House under emergency housing the Minister in terms of using his own figures around targets in terms of the emergency housing commitment by this Government—we have heard the stories in this House and I want to particularly acknowledge Te Puea Marae. In the heart of winter in the kindness of those people's hearts they opened their doors last year. It was only a temporary stop but they got full straight away. And they had no plan to do it this year but here we go again—Te Puea Marae is opening its doors again to address homelessness in Auckland. Again I come back to the Estimates. Where is the pūtea for places like Te Puea Marae to support what this Government has absolutely failed in providing—emergency housing?I then want to go down Minister to the purchasing social housing component of the report. I want to talk about buying motels—buying motels. If there was ever a cop-out for progressive policies around housing is buying motels not it? Buying motels is not sustainable. It is not sustainable but this is what this Government wants us to believe: it is making a difference by putting our people in motels. So I need to ask the Minister where his long-term plan is. What is clearly not evident in the Estimates that we are debating in this Committee is a caring government a kind Government that has the best interests of our most vulnerable people out there in the country at heart. Clearly under this Social Housing vote it is not evident.Worst of all when we come to income-related rent subsidies I notice there is $8 million unallocated. The Minister in the chair may want to tell us why in an area social housing that I know is hugely under-resourced he has got under income-related rent subsidies an $80 million unallocated fund. Maybe you could tell us there is some special project that you have got in mind but I think this Committee particularly needs some assurances from you that this is not going to be carved off as savings down the track. I would like the Minister to actually talk about that.I opened this contribution saying that I was looking for some innovation some long-term planning from this Government around social housing and it is clear in Vote Social Housing that it falls well short. I say that because in my electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and particularly in the Hawke's Bay area there is a group of well-intended community people—counsellors people working with the homeless the people of the local churches—who have got together in an organisation called Community Housing Action Team. They are fed up with this Government. They are fed up with this Government for non-delivery of quality social housing for all New Zealanders. This active group of people from the Hawke's Bay from the Napier area and from the Maraenui has got together and said enough is enough. Come Sunday at 2 p.m. there is going to be a public rally at the sound-shell in Napier and it is happening because this Government has failed to hold up its end around good quality social housing. There are people in our community who currently work at that level—at the coalface—and they said enough was enough. So at 2 o'clock on Sunday at the sound-shell in Napier a public hui is being called because the people of Hawke's Bay have said: "We're over this. We're over working with this Government. We've got to take back our country. We've got to take back Hawke's Bay and say that we want decent housing in this country and we're going to tell you how to do it." Kia ora tātou."