IN-CONFIDENCE
18 March 2024
Jessica Amber
[FYI request #25696 email]
Tēnā koe Jessica Amber
Official Information Act Request
Thank you for your email of 19 February 2024, requesting information about
Visions of a Helping Hand. I have considered your request under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act). Please find my decision on your request set
out below.
1. What happens of their tenants were ever to become in arrears etc while
tenanting a property - does HUD provide assistance here to cover any
costs etc relating to these?
If people need help to pay rent or accommodation costs, or support to stay in
their homes, the Ministry may be able to help them. The Ministry offers a
number of Housing Support Products:
•
Rent Arrears Grant provides recoverable assistance to help clients retain
their rental housing if they are at risk of losing their tenancy due to
being behind on their rent.
•
Rent in Advance Grant provides recoverable assistance to help with the
cost of rent in advance charged by a landlord to the client as a tenant.
•
Bond Grant provides recoverable assistance to help with the cost of a
rental bond charged by a landlord to the client as a tenant.
•
Moving Costs Grant provides recoverable assistance to help a client (or
any person living in the client’s household) with costs to move their
combined household furniture, appliances, personal effects and personal
belongings into rental housing.
•
Tenancy Costs Cover is a conditional grant for clients who are having
difficulty getting rental housing due to their personal circumstances. It
provides landlords with assurance the client will be able to meet any
tenancy related costs over and above the rental bond (up to a limit) if
IN-CONFIDENCE
owed at the end of the tenancy. Tenancy Costs Cover is payable to the
landlord, but recoverable from the client.
•
Transition to Alternative Housing Grant is a one-off, non-recoverable
incentive payment for clients who are ready and able to move out of
social housing and into alternative housing.
2. Aswell as providing any information held on amounts of tenants that
have ended up in arrears, approx ammounts all up in total and
ammounts if any that have been granted to visions to cover any arrears
claimed etc?
Please see below Appendix One, Table One: The number of hardship grants for
rent arrears granted to selected Visions of a Helping Hands suppliers from 1
January 2018 to 31 January 2024.
As you are aware, the Ministry contracts Visions of a Helping Hand to deliver
support services to people living in Emergency Housing. Payments recorded
here represent separate Housing Support Products paid by MSD to Visions in
respect of eligible clients in their role as a Transitional Housing provider. Please
note the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development contracts Visions of a
Helping Hand for Transitional Housing purposes.
I will be publishing this decision letter, with your personal details removed, on
the Ministry’s website in due course.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[email address]. If you are not satisfied with my decision on your request, you have the right
to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman. Information about
how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi nui
pp.
Magnus O’Neill
General Manager
Ministerial and Executive Services
Page 2 of 3
IN-CONFIDENCE
Appendix One
Table One: The number of hardship grants for rent arrears granted to selected Visions of a Helping Hand
supplier from 01 January 2018 to 31 January 2024
MSD Supplier Name
Grants
Amount Granted
VISIONS OF A HELPING HAND
99
$81,531.25
VISIONS OF A HELPING HAND - BOND
33
$47,417.58
VISIONS OF A HELPING HAND - TAUPO
6
$9,230.00
VISIONS OF A HELPING HAND CHARITABLE TRUST
15
$19,162.01
Total
156
$157,340.84
Notes:
• Grants are not the same as clients. A client can have multiple grants within a period.
• Amount granted may not be the same as amount spent.
• This table only includes hardship grants for 'Rent Arrears' and 'Housing Support Product: Rent Arrears Grant'.
• This table only includes grants made to the following suppliers: VISIONS OF A HELPING HAND , VISIONS OF
A HELPING HAND - BOND, VISIONS OF A HELPING HAND - TAUPO, and VISIONS OF A HELPING HAND
CHARITABLE TRUST
• To protect confidentiality the Ministry of Social Development uses processes to make it difficult to identify an
individual person or entity from published data.
• These data tables have had random rounding to base three applied to all cell counts in the table.
• The impact of applying random rounding is that columns and rows may not add exactly to the given column
or row totals.
• The published counts will never differ by more than two counts.
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