Heatley needs to come clean on plans for state house asset sales

Housing Minister Phil Heatley needs to come clean on his plans for state housing following the placement of an advertisement on Trade Me over the weekend for a ‘Property Divestment Expert’ within Housing New Zealand, says Labour Housing Spokesperson Moana Mackey.

“The advertisement calls for someone with specialist skills in the disposal of assets, with a “good balance of both public and private sector property disposals experience”.

“Housing New Zealand already employs an assets team to manage their housing stock. How extensive are the Government’s plans for state house sales if they need to employ a specialist asset sales expert?”

“Clearly National are planning to devolve large numbers of state houses and the taxpayers of New Zealand, who own these assets, deserve to know exactly how many will be privatised, for what price, and what does it mean for existing tenants in these properties?”

“Phil Heatley also needs to confirm whether or not any state houses that are privatised will be replaced, or whether the Government is now planning to significantly reduce its role in the provision of social housing.

“Labour supports working in partnership with the community housing sector to increase the provision of social and affordable housing. However this must be as well as continued government investment in social housing, not instead of. Simply shifting assets around will not do anything to address the ever worsening housing shortages facing New Zealand,” Moana Mackey said.

Link to Trade Me advertisement:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/listing.aspx?id=374822613