On Friday, in response to the homeless crisis in Auckland, Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett announced that WINZ would pay people up to $5,000 to leave Auckland and move to the regions. Meanwhile, in the Budget, they're paying people to do the opposite:
The Government will pay beneficiaries $3000 to move to cities such as Auckland for work - but the Budget doesn't mention Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett's plan to pay social housing tenants $5000 to move out of Auckland.
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In the absence of other new spending, Social Development Minister Anne Tolley trumpeted $26 million over four years to maintain targeted case management for 120,000 beneficiaries and fund the "3K to Work" scheme. This is a $3000 grant originally just for beneficiaries moving to work in Christchurch, but extended last December to cover all beneficiaries in intensive case management moving to any new location to take up work.
So, they'll pay you to move to Auckland to find work, but then when you can't find a house, they'll pay you to leave. Throw in WINZ's long-standing prohibition on beneficiaries moving to the regions for cheaper accomodation, and its clear that we have incoherent policy from a government that doesn't know what it is doing.
