Twyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 07 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11693. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]10.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Social Housing: Was she responsible for the advice to the Prime Minister that Ministry of Social Development officials accompanied the Salvation Army to visit homeless people in South Auckland’s Bruce Pulman Park?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Housing): Yes. I told the Prime Minister that the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) was working in conjunction with NGOs including the Salvation Army to reach out to homeless people to see whether they could offer assistance. I was not sufficiently clear that MSD was coordinating the activities and making staff available after hours to deal with any issues as they arose. He was 100 percent correct that the Salvation Army reported to MSD after the first night that of all the people they engaged none wanted MSD’s help.Phil Twyford: Why has she not apologised for misusing the good name of the Salvation Army to try to blame homeless people for their plight and her failed housing policy?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Actually the mistake that was made was certainly me not being clear enough that MSD was not actively with the Salvation Army. But actually we have had a number of NGOs that were out last week including MSD which was at the Auckland City Mission. The purpose of these visits was to engage homeless people as have been identified and make sure that they were connected to the support that they can get. What we did find from those visits was that most people did not actually want to engage. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Can the House settle to give Mr Twyford a fair go at asking his supplementary question.Phil Twyford: How many people have accepted the Government’s $3000 offer to move to Auckland to get a job and have now applied to take up her $5000 offer to move out of Auckland to get a house?Hon PAULA BENNETT: None because that would not be possible under the policy settings. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! Carmel Sepuloni that is your last warning for today.Alfred Ngaro: Why is MSD organising the mobile team activities?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I asked MSD to coordinate with experienced NGOs to talk with homeless people to gauge their social housing needs to look at whether we can give them assistance with food grants and also to make sure that they are on the social housing register and if they are there whether they have the right priority rating. This has come about because we saw the need that was there and wanted to actively engage with them.Alfred Ngaro: What else is the Government doing to help vulnerable people with housing needs?Hon PAULA BENNETT: We spend around $34 million every week to subsidise more than 470000 New Zealanders in social housing private rentals and even those on low incomes with some of their mortgage payments. That is around $2 billion every year up 53 percent from $1.3 billion when we took office. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! If you want further warnings dished out I can do that but for the Minister who has been asked a question it is an in-order question so I want to hear the answer.Hon PAULA BENNETT: We place on average 134 tenants and their families into social housing every week. In a first for New Zealand we are spending over $41 million on 3000 emergency housing places around the country. We are also freeing up places—Andrew Little: You’re making that up. Why can’t you be honest?Mr SPEAKER: Order! Mr Little.Hon PAULA BENNETT: Look get a supplementary question if you really want one—plus we are freeing up social housing through tenancy reviews to make sure that those who are in real need can get those houses.Phil Twyford: How can she maintain that her “get out of town” announcement was not a media-driven stunt when she said: “in the last few days I think we just certainly from the media putting the attention on it and you are seeing people that are living in those sort of circumstances I just want to do whatever we can and I think this is a way for me to get the message out to them that there is help available”?Hon PAULA BENNETT: That sounds like a fantastic statement—that there actually is help available and we want to make sure that we are getting to them. Since that statement on relocating out of Auckland which we have been working on for over 5 months actually we have had 130 people who have made inquiries about it with whom we are working closely.Phil Twyford: Will she admit that solving homelessness is just not her priority given that her “get out of town” policy was clearly a last-minute gimmick and that she made up a story involving the Salvation Army to blame homeless people for their own plight?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I refute both of those statements. Actually we are working with the Salvation Army which does a great job. Addressing housing needs for vulnerable people in New Zealand is a priority and the member can get up and postulate all he likes but we are going to actually do something.Phil Twyford: Will she apologise to the Salvation Army?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I have nothing to apologise for. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Mr Twyford. I am calling for order from both front benches.