Community Housing Aotearoa reports homelessness has reached the highest levels in New Zealand's history, just as Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget surplus—a milestone achieved through austerity that's left the country's most vulnerable in the cold.The numbers tell a stark story. While the government celebrates fiscal responsibility, thousands of New Zealanders are sleeping in cars, emergency housing, or on the streets. Youth unemployment is hitting poorest communities hardest. And government MPs are buying investment properties.Yes, you read that right. According to The Spinoff, government MPs acquired 25 additional investment properties after passing pro-landlord reforms that removed renter protections and restored tax advantages for property investors.So the same politicians who voted to benefit landlords became landlords themselves—while homelessness reached historic highs under their watch.Community Housing Aotearoa's report, covered by RNZ, documents unprecedented levels of housing insecurity across New Zealand. The organization represents community housing providers who see the crisis firsthand: families in motels, rough sleepers in cities, entire communities priced out of housing.The National-led coalition's response: budget surplus through cuts. The government scrapped the university fees-free scheme, slashed public sector jobs, and limited social spending. Willis proclaimed it fiscal discipline. Advocates call it cruelty.The disconnect is staggering. Willis presented her surplus budget while Social Development Minister Louise Upston—responsible for housing the homeless—collects $52,000 annually in parliamentary allowances to live in an apartment she owns mortgage-free.Meanwhile, youth unemployment is surging in the poorest communities, many of them Māori and Pacific Islander. Public sector workers laid off in the government's efficiency drive are still looking for jobs two years later, RNZ reported.The government argues its fiscal discipline will create long-term economic growth that benefits everyone. But the people sleeping in cars tonight aren't seeing it.For Pacific Island communities in New Zealand—disproportionately affected by the housing crisis—the message is clear: the government cares more about budget surpluses than people.And for Australia watching across the Tasman, it's a warning. Austerity proclaimed as success while homelessness soars and politicians profit is a political powder keg.Mate, there's a whole continent and a thousand islands down here. And right now, New Zealand's social fabric is fraying while politicians buy investment properties.