Maori Party Calls for Urgent Inquiry into Porirua Housing

The Maori Party has today called for an urgent inquiry to investigate conditions in Housing New Zealand (HNZ) rentals in Porirua.

Tariana Turia, as MP for Te Tai Hauauru and Housing Spokesperson for the Maori Party, has been meeting over the last two months with various groups involved in community housing in Porirua.

“I have advised the Minister of Housing about the dreadful conditions of many of the homes in Porirua a number of times” said Mrs Turia. “I have also sent him photos of the substandard condition of state housing across this region – mildew growth on walls and ceilings, faulty fireplaces, cardboard stuffed in patches to prevent the wind and leaks from coming in – but nothing has happened”.

“It is becoming intolerable. The hui I have been at today is the third I've attended in which it is obvious that the health of our state housing is nothing to be celebrated”.

“How ironic, that Labour would make much ado this month, about the 70th anniversary of state housing in New Zealand, when out in Porirua state housing is harming the very people it is supposed to be helping”.

“I have heard the call from the Salvation Army for a New Zealand Housing Commission, and the challenge from Community Housing Aotearoa that Government needs to ensure that housing policy development has a higher priority on the Cabinet agenda” said Mrs Turia.

“The people in Porirua are saying it; the community housing sector is saying it; the Maori Party is saying it - state housing is in an appalling state”.

“Today the people told me that they have been raising these issues with the HNZ office in Porirua for two years, but have been ignored and neglected” said Mrs Turia. “And on top of this, community groups in Porirua have told me that state housing tenants have come to them, advising them that HNZ has patched over the top of mould and then charged subsequent tenants for damages”.

“No public servant should be allowed to be in a position of authority if the public they are meant to serve is treated with little more than contempt” said Mrs Turia.

“The health and wellbeing of Porirua people is being significantly compromised by cold, damp housing conditions – that is, those people lucky enough to make it through the waiting list in the first place” (the HNZ waiting list has reached 11,000).

“Although there is a Tenancy Tribunal for individual cases between landlords and tenants, and a State Housing Appeal Authority to review rents or eligibility for a HNZ home, the fact that community housing is suffering from various states of disrepair and decay appears to be slipping through the cracks of political plastering” said Mrs Turia.