Time to build - not flog off - more state houses

Building more state houses and increasing housing affordability are both vital. Today’s announcement the Government plans to offer some tenants the chance to buy their state houses will not help realise these goals.
“Ideology has got in the way of practicality,” Green Party Housing Spokesperson Sue Bradford said today.
“Housing Minister Phil Heatley’s scheme is pointless as it won’t speed up the number of homes being built, which is the only answer to growing queues for state housing assistance.”
The Dominion Post reports Mr Heatley intends to increase the state housing stock by 1550 homes by 2013.
“With more than 10,000 families on the waiting list already, the last thing National should be doing is offering state house for sale.”
If people can afford to buy - they are able to do so on the open market, Ms Bradford said.
“Houses which are sold can be back on the market quickly, with investors and developers reaping profits. This happened in the 1990s, and I'm sure it will happen again now.
“This proposal is the thin end of the privatisation wedge and I hope other political parties and community organisations will join the Greens in urging Mr Heatley to reconsider.
“Selling off existing state houses may also create ghettos, as Housing NZ builds on the cheapest land available, often on city fringes with few social services.
“When this new policy is combined with the fact there will be no state houses in Housing New Zealand’s Hobsonville development - the future looks grim for mixed development ‘pepperpotted’ state housing - which has always been one way of improving quality of life for tenants and their children.
“The Green Party welcomes lifting the cap for the ‘Welcome Home’ loan scheme, but this should not be accompanied by the sale of state houses. Even if they are eventually replaced, there’s always a time lag building new state homes.
“I challenge National to offer solutions to the housing crisis that will actually work - such as picking up our Green New Deal proposals on accelerating state house construction and community sector housing programmes.
“By investing $2billion over the next three years in new state housing, the Green Party’s Green New Deal stimulus package would create 28,000 new jobs and 6000 new homes. It would improve life for families in desperate need of affordable housing, by dealing with economic, social, and environmental issues at the same time.”
* For information on the Green Party’s GND stimulus package go to: http://www.greens.org.nz/sites/default/files/TheGreenStimulusPackage.pdf