The list of things to achieve for the Government in its first 100 days is diminishing and congratulations are due.
Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford is on a mission to stop, overturn or even destroy every housing initiative and policy introduced by the previous National government — something to be expected.
Mr Twyford remained very clear in Opposition and during the election campaign of his plans.
The announcement this week will stop the transfer of up to 2500 state houses in Christchurch. Tenants in the suburbs of Shirley, Bryndwr and Riccarton had been told they are likely to have a new landlord by mid-next year.They will now receive letters telling them their homes will not be sold.
According to Mr Twyford, community housing providers have an important role to play in housing people in need, but the first and last provider of public housing must be the State.
Fittingly, the announcement was made at New Zealand’s first state house in Fife Lane, Miramar, Wellington — 80 years after it opened.
There remain striking images of then Labour prime minister Michael Joseph Savage struggling with a cumbersome dining table as he pushes through a cheering throng.
It is understandable, then, the passion with which Mr Twyford, and Labour in general, feel about state housing.
National planned to diversify the ownership of social housing but it was not totally successful. The 348 state houses in Invercargill were eventually turned down by a social provider in Dunedin. Similar attempts to offload houses in Horowhenua failed, but a buyer was found for 1124 state homes in Tauranga.
However, there is a kicker to Mr Twyford’s announcement which was largely buried at the end of the positive news of the Government’s cancelling the sell-off in Christchurch.
It seems although the large-scale state house sell-offs have ended, Housing New Zealand will be rejuvenating its stock by building and buying newer homes where they are most needed and selling houses no longer fit for purpose.
A spokeswoman for a group battling to save some of the Christchurch homes, although she no longer lives there, described the homes as broken and decayed. No longer fit for purpose may then fit the description of some of those houses.
One of the problems for Housing New Zealand is older people living in state properties in which they brought up their families who have since left home. Those larger properties may be ideal for younger people and their families, but it has been hard to shift people out of what they regard as their home. In fact, the State owns those properties and as much as people may have strong ties to them, they do not own them. They are likely being offered a house much more suitable to their needs.
In Christchurch, the new owner of the now cancelled sell-off would have required to add a further 150 social houses at no further cost to the State.
Successive governments, including Labour, have left the repair of some state houses far too long, allowing them to crumble into disrepair. Some houses have been destroyed by wayward tenants, dragging whole suburbs into disrepute. Already, changes to rules for investors have prompted rental shortages in Wellington and other parts of the country. Rents are rising as the market gets squeezed.
There is a hint of ideology about Mr Twyford’s announcement. Following the same plan for decades has not worked. New Zealand is in need of new social housing.
The Government’s plan of building 1000 state homes every year, although Mr Twyford is aiming for 2000, is laudable but must be seen alongside the plans to build 10,000 affordable houses a year for the next 10 years.
The Government is already well behind its target and there is a general feeling it will never match deeds with its words.
