There there were 48,789 people receiving NZ Super and an accommodation supplement in December, up from 47,223 the previous year. File photo. Photo: 123rf / Warren Goldswain
Almost 50,000 pensioners are also receiving an accommodation supplement to help cover their housing costs, and there's a warning that bill is going to keep growing.
The accommodation supplement is paid according to a person's income, assets and accommodation costs, and is designed to cover rent, board or a home loan payment.
The amount paid varies according to location but the maximum a single person with no children can get is $165 a week.
Data from the Ministry of Social Development shows there were 48,789 people receiving NZ Super and an accommodation supplement in December, up from 47,223 in December 2023 and 34,279 in December 2019.
There were 928,029 people receiving NZ Super in total.
Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the share of pensioners also getting an accommodation supplement was steady at about 5 percent but as the number of retirees increased, so too did the number receiving that extra support.
"For people who are poor and old they get not just NZ Super but a myriad of other support services, as they should because they need it."
But he said it was something that could be left out of modelling of the future cost of an ageing population.
"We focus exclusively on health and NZ Super costs and not so much on the other housing-related costs, which are very expensive."
He said when NZ Super was designed, people were more likely to own their own home and increasing home ownership was expected to diminish housing pressure as a source of old age poverty.
"We are dealing with the opposite, an ageing population with more people reaching old age with a mortgage or no homes. The burden on social assistance from housing is going to increase.
"That is why we should be honest about the nature of NZ Super - that it is welfare - costing us $20 billion last year, rising at a staggering pace - up $2b from the previous year, and going to too many people who do not need, nor paid into a scheme to save for it.
"It would be better if we treated like proper welfare, rationed to those who need it, and support those people better. "
He said the government would need to make sure support services were effective and sufficient, as well as generous enough to make a difference to those who struggled.
"It's also a question of how are we going to pay for it…. With the ageing population really kicking into high gear now, all the things we could paper over in the past become harder. Particularly in a wider environment of fiscal austerity… the money has to come from somewhere.
"You're trying to unpick quite a big public policy issue… ageing will come with many costs, not just the obvious ones."
He said it was something Treasury seemed to be considering, such as with its paper on fiscal incidence by age group that looked at the support given to different age groups.
Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold said the increase in housing support needs was unlikely to make much difference to government accounts in the next three to five years.
"Right now, housing assistance totals around $2.5b which includes support provision to seniors. This may well grow over the longer term as the aged population grows. It doesn't seem especially material in its own right but we assume the Treasury will look at this when they do their statement on the long-term fiscal position of the NZ government, which is due for publication this year."
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