The Accommodation Supplement needs a total review
The Aotearoa Tertiary Students’ Association – Te Whanau Tauira o Aotearoa (ATSA), welcomes the announcement from the
minister that the accommodation supplement is to be reviewed, and calls on the government to include student
accommodation supplements in that evaluation.
Current assistance fails totally in meeting the very real needs of many beneficiaries and students to decent housing.
“The government was advised by the Housing Corporation over a year ago that rules on abatement levels and regional
variations needed review,” ATSA national President Julie Pettett stated today. “We welcome the promise from the minister
that it will review the supplement. ATSA expects that officials will also investigate the unfair method used to
calculate accommodation supplements provided to needy students.”
“Recent reports that rent increases have forced people into sub-standard housing comes as no surprise to student
associations throughout the country who have seen the effects of unfair accommodation supplement rules applied to
tertiary students,” Pettett stated. “We totally agree that beneficiaries urgently need increases in their accommodation
supplements, but there are thousands of students in very similar circumstances who are provided with much lower levels
of assistance.”
“The rates of accommodation supplement available to students are based on average rental costs captured in each five
year population census. The rate for benefits is based on average rents as calculated annually by Tenancy New Zealand
from rental bond information,” Pettett said. “The current regulations unjustly penalise students, and ATSA calls on the
government to harmonise the methods used to calculate accommodation supplements.”