9. Emergency Housing—Demand and Loan ForgivenessCARMEL SEPULONI (Labour—Kelston) to the Minister for Social DevelopmentEmergency Housing—Demand and Loan Forgiveness9. CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour—Kelston) to the Minister for Social Development: Does she stand by all her statements?Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): Yes in the context in which they were made.Carmel Sepuloni: Why did she claim that Work and Income does not record the housing status of clients when the Prime Minister was quoted on 16 May 2016 using a Work and Income homeless figure of 428 and her colleague Paula Bennett stated last week that the Government does know how many people are sleeping rough and do not have places to go?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: That question was asked in the Estimates hearing today and it was adequately explained to the member that there are different categories that Work and Information collect information under. One is homelessness and one is insecure housing. The member was also told that—although it is not my responsibility as a Minister; it is the Minister for Social Housing's responsibility—the criteria under which we take that information are being reviewed.Carmel Sepuloni: On what basis did her Government determine the additional $9 million for the special-needs grant for a 7-day subsidy given that she says she does not have data on the average stay in emergency motel accommodation and does not know how much Work and Income has spent on assistance for this to date?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Again as was discussed at the Estimates hearing this morning we have done some work to determine the $9 million injection into emergency housing but we are also making changes to the way we collect data not the least being that by having a special-needs grant for emergency housing be non-recoverable we will be able to get better information on how much and how many times it is accessed by clients. That will mean we will be in a much better position come Budget 2017 to know exactly whether that $9 million is going to be sufficient whether it is too much or whether we need more.Carmel Sepuloni: I seek leave to table an Official Information Act (OIA) response from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) which is not publicly available dated 13 January 2016 that states the average length of stay in emergency motel accommodation using MSD payments is 10 days?Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that particular OIA response. Is there any objection to it being tabled? [Interruption] Order! I put the leave; the leave has been denied. That is the end of that matter.Carmel Sepuloni: Does she disagree with the social housing Minister's decision to invest $9 million in the special-needs grant for emergency housing given that she said to the Social Services Committee today she does not recognise an increase in the need for emergency housing?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I do not believe that I ever stated that. I do agree with the Minister for Social Housing in having that special-needs grant be non-recoverable.Carmel Sepuloni: Has she asked Cabinet to forgive debt for emergency accommodation through the special-needs grants given that she stated at the select committee meeting today that it is unfair that Work and Income clients are forced to pay this back?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Again the member must quote accurately if she is going to try to put words in my mouth. I never said that at any stage.Carmel Sepuloni: You said it was unfair.Hon ANNE TOLLEY: No I will repeat what I said. We have hard-working people in New Zealand who are paying their debt back to Work and Income and it would be most unfair if we then decided that for a certain group of people we would write off their debt.