The ‘true waitlist’ for public housing is everyone who is living in housing stress, but may not be eligible or have given up trying to access public housing.
The need for more public housing extends far beyond the current waitlist. The waitlist always fluctuates depending on the government at the time – the barriers they put up to getting and staying on the waitlist, and a limited eligibility criteria which means only those who can prove the most severe need are prioritised.
The government is intentionally keeping people off the waitlist to keep the numbers low, so we cannot trust the public housing waitlist to give an accurate indication of need.
Here’s some estimates of the ‘true waitlist’ and need:
At the time of the last census in 2023, there were over 112,496 people who were considered in severe housing deprivation – living in cars, on couches, in overcrowded housing and uninhabitable housing. There were also 355,299 people that could not be determined, but likely living in temporary housing situations.
We are incredibly rent burdened in this country, with low-income people in Aotearoa paying some of the highest rents in the OECD.
46% of renter households pay more than 30% of their income on rent (around 330,000 households).
There are nearly 400,000 people, the majority being renters, who access the Accommodation Supplement (a benefit that goes straight to landlords) because they cannot afford their rent.
We also have an aging population with an increasing number of older people going into retirement as private renters. Our superannuation scheme was designed around people either having stable state housing or owning a home mortgage free. The private rental market is unsuitable for many older people.
Renters and people without suitable housing would be better served by having access to public housing, yet are forced into the private market where their weekly rent goes towards the individual gains of landlords and investors.
The ‘true waitlist’ for public housing is massive, and the government does not have a plan to end it. But we do. Building public housing at scale and making it available to people from different incomes and backgrounds creates stable housing where they can age in place.