Inquiry into use of Auckland private rentals for emergency housing

The Auditor-General, John Ryan, has decided to carry out an inquiry into the Ministry of Social Development’s emergency housing grants paid for private rental properties in Auckland.

Background

The Ministry provides grants to pay for emergency housing. Emergency housing is intended as a short-term option for people who are unable to find accommodation. Emergency housing grants are provided for an initial period of up to seven days to allow time for people to find a more permanent home. The Ministry pays the money to the accommodation supplier. The supplier has usually been a motel owner.

However, from November 2017 until June 2020, the Ministry also paid landlords and property managers more than $38 million for the use of private rental properties as emergency housing. Most of this was for housing in Auckland.

There have been concerns expressed to us and in the media about the quality of some of the private rentals used as emergency housing and the amounts paid to private landlords and property managers. We have decided to carry out an inquiry to better understand what happened.

Inquiry

Our inquiry will examine the Ministry’s decision-making processes related to the use of private rentals for emergency housing in Auckland between November 2017 and June 2020, including:

• the decision-making process by the Ministry to enter into arrangements with private landlords and property managers for emergency housing in Auckland over that period;
• the Ministry’s processes for deciding to pay for private rentals as emergency housing, including any assessment of the quality of the accommodation and how much to pay, and ensuring they were getting what they paid for when it provided that funding;
• the decision by the Ministry to stop funding those private rentals; and
• any other related matter that the Auditor-General considers it desirable to report on.

We will carry out the inquiry under section 18 of the Public Audit Act 2001. We will not make any public comment while our work is under way, but will publish a report once we have completed the inquiry.

In keeping with the Auditor-General’s role, our inquiry will focus on the specific issues raised with us, but will not consider policy decisions made by the Ministry about emergency housing, including the decision to use private rentals.