Tuesday’s pick of the links

Where's the Accommodation Supplement review?; The health crisis is morphing into a catastrophe in some places; Another $44m in payouts to councils to win them over to Three Waters; The Craic

TLDR: Here’s a few links to news and original data sources I found useful over the last day or so. I welcome additions from paid subscribers for others in the comments.

Scoops and news of note in Aotearoa-NZ

Whatever happened to the Accommodation Supplement review?

The Government announced more than a year ago in Budget 2021 there would be a review of the Accommodation Supplement, which is now based on rental data that is six years out of date. The Salvation Army’s social policy and parliamentary unit director Ian Hutson told RNZ’s Checkpoint last night after inflation figures showing rents outside of Auckland rising at an annual rate of 5.8% that the supplement should be doubled.

"They just can't afford the rental costs. A lot of the people that come to us for other reasons such as food, or we've got financial mentoring programmes as well, and sometimes people come there also because rent has become such a big part of what people's budgets are. And that's shown up in the figures that came out today."

"The people that come into our transitional housing, often we're able to get them sorted and everything, but then it's quite hard to get them into the next level. When you look at how many people are waiting on the Housing Register, and the gap between what people can afford and social housing, and the private market, is huge." The Salvation Army’s social policy and parliamentary unit director Ian Hutson told RNZ’s Checkpoint

Accommodation Supplement levels haven’t changed since April 2018 (the previous change was April 2005), but rents have risen 15% since April 2018. As this MSD study via Motu of the supplement published in January this year shows, Aotearoa NZ has the most expensive housing for our poorest in the world. The study found most of the increase in 2018 had gone to tenants, rather than landlords through higher rents.

Budget 2022 forecast $2.4b would be spent on Accommodation Supplements for over 350,000 recipients.

‘It’s not a crisis anymore. It’s a catastrophe’

Wairarapa Hospital Department Head Norman Gray didn’t pull his punches on RNZ Checkpoint last night about the current staffing crisis, with just one nurse staff on at points and some working for 10 consecutive days.

"I heard the minister say it's not a crisis, well I think he's right, it's more than a crisis, really becoming a catastrophe now

"Even if you were heard, you never felt you were believed, and I think that's still the case now when the minister feels that people are not quite telling the truth, even when they're using the ministry statistics." Wairarapa Hospital Department Head Norman Gray via RNZ Checkpoint

This speaks for itself on the health catastrophe

This happened to Huhana Hickey recently, as Katie Doyle reported this morning for Stuff.

A disabled woman with Covid-19 symptoms and a multiple sclerosis flare-up says she waited 12 hours for an ambulance and when it finally arrived, paramedics couldn’t take her to hospital. So she wheeled herself there.

Dr Huhana Hickey (Ngāti Tāhinga, Whakatōhea), who is a highly regarded disability advocate and sits on a number of regional and national health boards, was admitted to Middlemore Hospital after arrival, and also tested positive for Covid-19.  When she was discharged five days later, Hickey had to wheel herself home because there weren’t any shuttles or taxis available to accommodate her wheelchair. Stuff.

The Press Newsroom @PressNewsroom

Waimakariri Council will oppose a bid which could turn Ohoka village into a town, but developers say it will provide new homes and an economic boost.

dlvr.itCouncil to oppose 850-home development in rural Canterbury townWaimakariri Council will oppose a bid that could turn Ohoka village into a town, but developers say it will provide new homes and an economic boost.

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For the record here

Bonanza for water policy contractors

Associate Minister of Local Government Kieran McAnulty announced every council would receive at least $350,000 of funding to help implement Three Waters reforms from a new $44m fund the help them deal with transitioning, especially with staff shortages. McAnulty made the announcement after a tour to meet 21 rural and provincial councils.

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Scoops and news of note overseas

Thomas Nash @nashthomas

Be good to see similar research on the drivers of inflation in NZ: “Increasing prices in line with, or in excess of, rising costs is a choice to maintain or increase profit margins in Australia even though the profit share of GDP is at a near-record high.”

theguardian.comRising corporate profits major factor in Australia’s escalating inflation, report findsWage growth is at record low levels, while the profit share is at a near-record share of GDP, according to analysis from the Australia Institute

Mariana Mazzucato @MazzucatoM

Read my two cents on what the government should be doing about the cost of living crisis in The @guardian alongside my @IIPP_UCL colleague @jryancollins who predicts the impact on house prices.

theguardian.comEconomics made simple: 10 experts on where the cost of living crisis came from, and where it’s headingRampant inflation, war in Ukraine, Brexit… we ask 10 experts to explain what the economic crisis means for Britain and how we should respond

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Profundities, spookies, curiousities and feel-goods

Robin Brooks @RobinBrooksIIF

Recent days have seen a lot of people claim that Italy's high private sector wealth helps fund its deficits. That's not correct. The only institution funding Italian deficits for the past decade is the ECB, which - indirectly via QE - has funded ALL net new debt issuance (blue).

Sergi Lanau @SergiLanauIIF

China has a serious growth model problem under zero covid. Consumption has grown very little in the last year and a half. Hard to see what can replace dependence on public investment and exports in this context. Our view is that potential growth will fall quickly to 3%.

Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton

With references to writings and insights from: @NickHanauer @ThePlumLineGS @sahilkapur @Claudia_Sahm @ClimateHuman @RepJohnYarmuth @jonathanchait and more

stephaniekelton.substack.comThe Pitchforks Aren’t ComingFor the last two years, Joe Biden has been talking about raising taxes on large corporations and wealthy Americans. It’s not happening.

ISABELNET @ISABELNET_SA

🇺🇸 ISM Manufacturing PMI Should investors expect a sharp contraction of the US economy? 👉 isabelnet.com/?s=ISM h/t @SoberLook #markets #ISM #manufacturing #PMI #mfg #GDP #growth #economy #investors #investing

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The Craic

Chris Keall @ChrisKeall

Meanwhile in Christchurch

Ka kite ano

Bernard