The $350 sum given to people being released from prison has not increased in 30 years.
The Steps to Freedom grant has stayed at the same rate since 1991. File photo Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
If the Steps to Freedom grant had kept up with inflation, it would be about $700 today.
Meanwhile, the cost of housing, food, and petrol have all increased significantly.
The grant was just over $100 when it was introduced in 1983, which was twice the youth unemployment benefit of the time. Doubling today's youth benefit is about $535.
Instead, $350 is the maximum amount available for the initial costs of being released - that is to cover essentials like housing, bedding, food, clothing, toiletries, and power.
It has been at that rate since 1991.
When Jessica was released from prison in 2011, she only got $150 under the grant.
She said she was lucky to have family to pick her up and help her out - something a lot of people being released did not have.
"It might be that someone from their past picks them up and then it's all over within an hour of that," she said.
"I think it's the same if a woman's in an abusive relationship and they get out ... it's a bit hard to be able to escape a relationship that might have financial security."
Chair of justice advocacy organisation JustSpeak, Jordan Anderson, said some people lost everything while they were inside.
Those being released might need to replace clothes, cell-phones and employment - and it all comes at a cost.
"An address is another one, being able to actually access housing and pay a bond potentially, pay rent, food, all of the basic necessities which we kind of take for granted a lot of the time as people on the outside," Anderson said.
A 2018 review found Steps to Freedom did not meet its objective of providing financial support, and recommended it be increased to cover basic living costs.
Since then, little seems to have happened.
Victoria University of Wellington Macroeconomics professor Robert Kirkby said about 9500 people received the grant in the 2018-19 financial year.
If each of these people received the full amount, it would cost the government $3.3 million annually.
He said if the grant had been increased to meet the 2019 inflation rate, it would have cost the government 0.003 percent of its $87 billion spend that year.
"So compared to the whole size of government, it's tiny," he said.
"This particular programme viewed on its own, you could easily adjust it for inflation without really impacting the government's budget."
Prof Kirkby said based on the Consumer Price Index, the amount of money needed to buy the same goods had almost doubled since 1991.
Whether the grant should be increased to match inflation depended on if the original amount was thought to be too much, too little, or appropriate, he said.
The Ministry of Social Development said its job was to administer the grant but that the rate was set by Parliament. However, it said it was advising ministers as part of the Welfare Overhaul programme.
But to people like Jess, who need to rebuild their lives after prison, change could not come soon enough.
"If it's called the Steps to Freedom, then they need to make it that way," she said.
"That name in itself is stating that that's what the money's for, to build our freedom, but I don't think it is. I mean, who can do that with 350 bucks, build a new life and be free?"
