Pacific Households To Be Hardest Hit By Scheduled Benefit Cuts, Social Housing Rent Hikes

15 Sep 2026, 16:46 by Kaya Selby · SCOOP

Pacific households in New Zealand will be the hardest hit by scheduled benefit cuts and social housing rent increases, according to officials.

Ahead of Budget 2026, government ministers were presented with modelling that estimated 26,000 Pacific families would see their weekly income fall by an average of $30.75 from April next year.

It is noted this factored in "a large proportion of Pacific Peoples in social housing and larger family sizes", meaning greater exposure to a cut in the Temporary Additional Support (TAS) maximum rate from 30 percent of income to 25 percent.

"Pacific peoples have the highest weekly loss when compared with other ethnic groups," it read.

Meanwhile, social, transitional and emergency housing rents will increase, with the government requiring 30 percent of a tenant's income to be paid, up from 25 percent.

The government's decision to reinvest revenue saved from TAS cuts into accommodation supplement increases would, according to officials, offer little benefit to maxed-out TAS recipients.

For households with three or more people, accommodation supplement (AS) increases ranged from $20-$30 per week depending on the area.

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But because a higher income draws down the TAS entitlement, "any increase in AS will result in a direct reduction in TAS," and therefore "for people who are at the TAS maxima and the AS maxima ... they will lose more from the reduction in the TAS maxima".

Under all three measures combined, officials advised that more beneficiary families lose than gain, while approximately 2200 families throughout the country lose between $51-$52 per week.

All told, 61,000 European families would benefit by nearly $15 per week, while 52,000 would lose around $20. Around 51,000 Māori families would lose nearly $24, while 34,000 would gain around $15.

Auckland households would lose the most: 54,000 families would lose around $26 per week, while 13,000 Wellington families would lose around $24, as would Canterbury households.

More than 113,000 families received the TAS as of April, while nearly 382,000 received the AS. Social housing tenants numbered just shy of 85,000.