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The government shelled out $37 million for private rentals to house the homeless, but is being slammed for having no checks on whether homes were suitable or worth the massive price tags.
A scathing review by the Auditor General into the Ministry for Social Development's spending has confirmed homes, which some tenants said were barely livable, were rented for thousands of dollars a week.
It says systems should have been in place to protect the vulnerable. Advocates are calling for the Serious Fraud Office to be involved. Nita Blake-Persen reports.