The forum, organised by Dunedin South Labour candidate Clare Curran, was attended by about 30 people, including one woman who was angry about the poor condition of her Housing New Zealand home.
The woman said her son had developed asthma and she, too, had been unwell because of mould throughout the house and poor heating, which meant it was warmer outside than in. She had approached Housing New Zealand without success.
Ms Street said she would do all she could to fix the problem.
Denis Povey, of Presbyterian Support, said Dunedin still had a problem with old, cold homes and he feared no government would ever be able to change the damage done to state housing stocks in the 1980s and 1990s.
[comment caption=Do you think Dunedin housing issues are ignored?]
There are about 1500 state-owned houses and 950 council flats in Dunedin.
The Labour government and Green Party have committed $1 billion to a household energy efficiency fund which will provide grants and subsidies for clean heating devices and insulation.
However, the Dunedin City Council is struggling for funds to build new pensioner flats, people with disabilities are struggling to get modifications to make homes suitable for them and the environmental health of many homes in the city was poor, members of the public said.
Ms Curran said she would place housing at the top of her list of priorities, because, through door-knocking, she had realised how many people were living with young children in cold, old homes, and how many elderly people did not want to get out of bed in the morning because they were too cold.
Ms Street said she knew of about a dozen state-owned homes in Dunedin which were built before 1938 and one which was built in 1905.
But 1200 homes had been retrofitted in Dunedin, and only 30 were left to do, she said.
Continued consultation was required between local councils and the Government to fix the problem, she said.
