Housing sale claim dismissed

Clare Cuuran.
Clare Cuuran.
More desperate Dunedin families could be be driven into ''slum housing'' as a result of a Housing New Zealand plan to dispose of 68 state houses in the city, Dunedin South Labour MP Clare Curran says.

However, her claim has been dismissed by HNZ staff, who say there are no plans to sell any state houses in the city ''at the moment''.

Ms Curran yesterday released a document she said showed HNZ planned to reduce its Dunedin property portfolio over the next three years.

The table, titled ''Housing New Zealand projected stock movements'', dated from October last year, and forecast changes in the state housing stock in centres across the country.

That included Dunedin, which was projected to lose 68 properties by 2017, leaving 1425 in the city, while Auckland's portfolio grew by more than 1400, the table showed.

Ms Curran criticised the planned ''sell-off'' in Dunedin, which she said would occur at a time 62 families remained on a waiting list for a state house in the city.

Hundreds more people desperate for a state house were being turned away without even making the waiting list, following what appeared to be a change in assessment criteria, she said.

As a result, more people would be forced into substandard ''slum housing'' in Dunedin.

''My fear is that we are ending up with a market in our city where there is a high degree of need, and where there are increasing numbers of people ... taking up rentals that are substandard - slum housing, in other words.

''Those are the conditions that quite a few people are living in.''

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English is the minister responsible for HNZ, but staff in his office did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

HNZ staff were also not available for an interview, but in a statement denied there were any plans to sell state homes in Dunedin.

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