Labour likes to take credit for inventing state housing, albeit that various local and central government initiatives aimed at supporting people into homes had been introduced in the three decades before then Finance Minister Walter Nash’s 1936 announcement that the government would build 5000 residences.
National has had a more ambivalent position on state housing, seemingly regarding it as something it has to put up with. At various times it has brought in market rents for state houses, introduced buy-back schemes and sold off some state housing stock.
There are, no doubt, still some in the National caucus, let alone that of coalition partner Act New Zealand, who would like the government to get out of the housing market entirely and leave it to private landlords.
However, there are few private landlords — Dunedin’s Russell Lund being a rare example with his Suzanne Lund apartments complex — who are prepared to step up and provide housing for the less fortunate.
Many New Zealanders believe that the state should provide a safety net for individuals in times of trouble and, so long as that philosophical view remains prevalent, state-funded housing assistance will remain.
Whatever Housing Minister Chris Bishop’s personal views on state housing, his announcement on Wednesday of the details of a turnaround for Kāinga Ora demonstrates a commitment by the government to building and managing government-owned social housing.
Critics may quibble that the caveat, "in a financially sustainable way", equivocates on that commitment, but the fact remains that the government has committed to the continuing provision of state housing.
Kāinga Ora owns about 75,000 properties across New Zealand and has cumulative assets of $47 billion. It spends $2.5b a year on building and maintenance, costs which have contributed towards a deficit of about $560 million and about $16b in debts.
This parlous set of books prompted the government to commission a report into how Kāinga Ora operates; it found that the organisation was not financially viable as things stood, and that the wider social housing system as a whole might not be either.
That work informed this week’s retrofit, in which Bishop demanded improved management of assets, more cost-effective buildings, and a measured sale of specific high value state houses.
Holes have already been picked in some of this.
Fears have also been expressed that selling the state houses which are in, or neighbour, leafy suburbs and redirecting those funds into more affordable areas runs the risk of creating slums and neighbourhoods which lack diversity.
And the mere mention of the potential sale of state houses is anathema to some, even if successive governments of all stripes have occasionally disposed of housing stock which is no longer needed.
These are reasonable points which the minister and Kāinga Ora will have to work through, but even a casual glance at the organisation’s accounts suggests that in no way could business continue in the manner which had come to be considered as normal.
The government has recently appointed a new chairman of Kāinga Ora, and the organisation has in turn appointed a new chief executive. Predictably, they were in lockstep with the minister on the desirability of turning Kāinga Ora around.
Chairman Simon Moutter said that Kāinga Ora would be a "firm but fair" organisation in future. Firm on costs is fine, fair with clients is essential, as these are people who deserve a fair deal and, in many cases, have been waiting years for one. Kāinga Ora has a waiting list of 20,000 people, and growing, who all want the comfort and security of a home of their own.
Some on that waiting list are in Dunedin, where several Kāinga Ora projects were left in limbo as the review was conducted and refocus constructed.
Now that a new structure exists for the agency, it is surely time for Kāinga Ora to build those people a home, as soon as possible.
