Bennett Paula: Financial Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett Paula: Financial Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 04 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16301. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PAULA BENNETT (Associate Minister of Housing): I was not going to take a call but there has been some misinformation that I felt needed to be cleared up. I am an Associate Minister of Housing and the Minister for Social Development. Yes there are some changes going on with how we work with those who need houses how we work with the waiting list how we get people into homes and how we look at reviewable tenancies and at who is in our houses and who should be looking at alternative options so that we can free up some of those houses. I agree with all members of the House that we have some people living in situations that none of us would wish on anyone quite frankly. To do this we need those who are most in need actually living in homes. So since 2011 we have advised people who are going into Housing New Zealand houses that those houses were not necessarily a house for life and that we could be looking at some of the need as we went forward.There are big changes happening on 14 April. We have certainly made them public but I am not sure that they are getting the kind of attention that they perhaps should be. No longer will Housing New Zealand place people into homes. That will be the responsibility of Work and Income and I think that is really important for the well-being of those people. Mr Harawira raised concerns about that and felt that it would be marginalising people. In fact it is the complete opposite. The reality is that we know a lot about people who are on benefits. We know how many children they have we know what their income is we know what their needs will be longer term and we know their history of benefit receipt or with Child Youth and Family. By taking all of those things into consideration when we place someone in a home we can also be looking at the wider social concerns.So the reality is that if we set someone up in a home their children are engaged in school. We have the right kind of support going in to them whether it be via an NGO aprogramme like Family Start or Parents as First Teachers or one of those great programmes that works with them. We keep them there for a very long time so that they have that sense of community and are able to stay engaged in work and schools. However there are some people who are paying market rent in a Housing New Zealand home. That means that their income is such that they could actually afford supposedly to be in a private rental. So then it gets really interesting to look at what the barriers are that are preventing them from going into a private rental. Quite often it can be bond payments quite often it can be fear and quite often it can be just knowing what they know. So we can actually put things in place that will assist people to overcome those barriers so that we are freeing up homes for those most in need.One of the other really important things is of course that we are opening it up to social housing providers. So people like the Salvation Army Vision West Community Trust in my own patch out in west Auckland and other organisations that actually do engage in social housing will be able to access income-related rents and that is massive for them. That means that they can offer the tenants in their homes income-related rents which of course greatly reduces the cost for the individual or family and equally also makes it much easier for the organisation that is supporting them because they are no longer reliant on just the accommodation supplement.What you will see from 14 April is that we will have people on a waiting list that will be going out to social housing providers as well as to Housing New Zealand. They will be advising us on the homes that they have available. We will then be making the best call for that individual or family as to where they live and what best suits their needs. We then get far better wraparound support for them. We get to identify what all of the issues are. Although it is a massive change and there is always some risk in how Work and Income will handle that with the increase in staff for specialised services I know that we can make a really big difference. We will be making some announcements very soon on reviewable tenancies. They will be sensible they will be common-sense and they will working alongside someone over a period of time. So someone is not going to get notice of 1 month or even 2 months or for that matter even 3 months. We will be working with them on what other opportunities there are and how we can place them into homes. So I really welcome this.I have heard other members raise the issue of how many houses have been insulated. I cannot even start to go on about the special housing areas in Auckland and the difference they are making in homes being built and opening up other opportunities for New Zealanders. This is a complex and a hard area but it is one that I know National is making a difference in and Nick Smith deserves all recognition for the work that has gone on.Report noted.