Former scaffolder William Namana is struggling to make ends meet, thanks to a loophole in social housing legislation.

A disabled man says a loophole in social housing law has left him relying on a food bank, simply because he moved to Masterton.

Confined to a wheelchair after a stroke in 2005, former scaffolder William Namana, 57, can no longer work. But he coped through the Government's income-related rent subsidy, which meant no more than 25 per cent of his benefit went on rent.

That changed two years ago when the father of eight, and grandfather of six, moved from Auckland to Masterton to be closer to extended family.

Because the subsidy was only for state tenants, and all of Wairarapa and Tararua's state houses were sold to Masterton's Trust House community enterprise in 1999, he had to pay full rent. When Trust House put the rent up by $15 a week in February, he began relying on a food bank to survive.

"I'd call it discrimination ... why do you give one lot something and not the other?"

He now spends $245 of his weekly income of $381 on rent, leaving $136 for power, phone, medical bills and food, including special dietary needs. He neither drinks nor smokes, but still can't afford enough food, a haircut or clothes.

If he received the rent subsidy, he would end up with an extra $92 in his pocket each week. "That money would give me my quality of life back."

In August, Trust House became the first non-governmental housing provider allowed to access the income-related subsidy. But this applied only to new tenants, not Namana.

It was unfair that someone in the same position as himself moving into a Trust House property tomorrow would be nearly $100 better off, he said.

Trust House housing manager Craig Thomson said it had spoken to the Government about the anomaly. "We'd love to have all our tenants on the subsidy, but it's Work and Income that makes that decision."

Only one tenant in the trust's 482 properties had the subsidy. The February rent rise was the first in two years, and the trust's rents were set to stay below market rates, he said.

Masterton Mayor Lyn Patterson has written to Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett about the "totally unacceptable" loophole. "People here are being denied something that's available to everyone else in New Zealand. It's just ludicrous ... so unjust, so unfair."

She has even considered helping Namana move to the town's camping ground for three months so he could apply for the subsidy as a new Trust House tenant, but his health ruled that out.

Wairarapa Free Budget Advisory Service manager Grant Howard said Namana would definitely qualify for the subsidy if he was a new tenant.

He had 19 other clients in a similar situation. "The legislation means more people like William are getting squeezed."

Bennett said the subsidy's budget would run out if it was extended to existing tenants.

"We are acutely aware of the needs of some vulnerable people who require social housing and are unable to access it because of a supply shortage."

Three thousand subsidies would be funded over the next three years, but would not cover people in Namana's situation, she said.