State house cheats

Stuff reports:

More than 300 state housing tenants were evicted in the past year for lying about their circumstances, including one couple that ran an internet business from their property which turned over almost $400,000.

New figures show the number of tenancies ended for dishonesty has been steadily rising over the past few years. In the past year 312 tenants were terminated, up from 241 last year and 114 in 2010.

This is one of the problems if having state house rentals so much more generous that the accommodation supplement for private rentals. It creates an obvious incentive for people to try and get the maximum benefit – including lying about their circumstances.

Of course the previous policy of market rentals for state houses, and delivering all support through the accommodation supplement also had drawbacks. It’s one of those areas where all policy options have significant problems.

Good to see that Housing NZ is being vigilant at detecting fraud.