National is sticking a bandaid on the housing crisis while failing to address the cause.
"Chris Bishop admits the housing system is broken, he knows there aren't enough homes, but he has chosen not to prioritise affordable housing,” Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said.
"National is about to raise the rent of thousands of social housing tenants, more prisoners are being released straight into rough sleeping, and providers are carrying roughly 900 households beyond capacity that the Government has funded.
"Under National’s watch, people released from hospital onto the streets has increased by a third.
"This crisis isn't just happening on National’s watch; it's being made worse by Chris Bishop’s choice to only build 446 houses of the 2050 he promised.
"Support for frontline homelessness services is important and Labour welcomes additional funding for the organisations doing the hard work on the ground. But no amount of outreach, case management or emergency support can make up for a shortage of homes.
"Homelessness is growing in more communities around New Zealand under National. National needs to explain why their housing policies are failing to keep up.
“If Chris Bishop is serious about reducing homelessness, he needs to do more than manage the consequences. He needs to build the homes that are missing from the system.
"Because the simple truth is this: homelessness will not be solved until New Zealand has more homes,” Kieran McAnulty said.
