state housing fraud

NZ Herald reports:

Tenants at nearly 400 state houses have been kicked out in the past three years for lying about their circumstances.

Housing Minister Phil Heatley said investigations had uncovered 397 cases in which tenants failed to advise Housing New Zealand (HNZ) about income from employment, business interests, assets, that they lived with a partner, or they sublet their tenancy.

From that number, 241 tenancies were ended in the past year.

“The state housing system is designed to help people in their time of need. It’s unfair and unacceptable for people to abuse the system and commit fraud to get benefits they are not entitled to,” Mr Heatley said.

“People who deliberately rip-off the system deprive families in real need.”

It is good to see efforts being made to help those most in need, rather than those who lie about their income.

What I would be interested in, is how many tenancies were terminated for fraud each year for the last decade.