According to the Government numbers released yesterday in Budget 2017, an additional $254 million a year is going to be spent on the accommodation supplement, 136,000 families will on average see an extra $36 a week to help pay rent.

This increase, so says the Government, reflects the increased cost of housing across New Zealand.

Like most people, I think this makes complete sense. We are all aware the the cost of housing, both to rent and buy has increased ridiculously recently, and pay packets have not, so there are tens of thousands of families doing it hard. This, I am sure will be a welcome boost.

That additional $254 million is on top of the $2 billion the accommodation supplement is estimated to cost the Government each year.  Now this is not me complaining, people need a place to live, and for many on low wages without this supplement, paying for a place to live would become a massive ordeal.

My issue is, where is the long-term thinking? What are we doing to get these people off the accommodation supplement? As far as I am aware, nothing. Given the ever-increasing cost of buying a house, I’d say chances are pretty slim, if not near impossible that a family currently receiving the accommodation supplement would ever be able to buy a house?

$2.2 billion is no small chunk of change, and remember this is an ever-increasing annual cost, back in 2011 we were spending $1.2 billion. Imagine the bill five years from now.

Again, this is not me suggesting we cut the payment, reduce the payment, boot people out of their houses, but what on earth are we thinking handing out over $2 billion every year, with absolutely no plan or attempt to reduce this cost.

If this was my household budget, I would be looking to reduce this overhead - as I am sure you would to - but is it possible?

I think it is. To reduce numbers on the accommodation supplement, we need to get the working members of these families better jobs, or houses of their own. Given our low wage economy, the latter is probably going to be easier.

So on that, why not spend half a billion each year building 1,000 basic houses that those on low to medium incomes can rent to buy from the Government. You could sell them back to them at cost, or even charge a little interest to help fund the next round of building.

This would mean each year the number of families needing the accommodation supplement would reduce, which means the cost of to the taxpayer would reduce, and not only on the accommodation supplement front. Health costs would shrink, as research completed here in NZ, by the Rising Foundation suggests families living in their own home have better physical and mental health. Home ownership also sees a  drop in crime, increases in education and job security, and therefore less dependency on welfare.

I mean, what part of this isn’t win/win?

So many parts of public life are crying out for more money, and there will never be enough, so surely if there are ways we can reduce our spending in one area, to then put that saved money into others, why wouldn't we look at them?

We do it with health, we are starting to do it with other social services with the investment approach, why wouldn’t we do the same with housing? Why would you not attempt to reduce this ever increasing bill? I don’t know.

This is the sort of thinking I would expect from a forward thinking, fiscally conservative Government… But where is it?

I can only help but wonder if the Government doesn’t mind spending more and more on the accommodation supplement because in reality, the people it benefits are the National base, and the National caucus.

Think about it, who owns all the rental properties that the accommodation supplement flows too?

Just like Working for Families is now okay, because it means business can pay their employees peanuts, and the rest of us top up their pay, so they can keep their head above the water.

Should we try to reduce dependence on the accommodation supplement?  Does it make sense to you?

And if you are currently receiving the accommodation supplement, what are your chances of buying a house? Are they literally nil? Or do you think it might be possible one day?