State houses empty while thousands wait
Almost 3,000 state houses are sitting empty while thousands of desperate families wait for Housing New Zealand to help, says Annette King.
Official data supplied to Labour shows that at the end of June, Housing New Zealand had 989 vacant houses that were ready to let but are sitting empty. Another 973 were vacant and awaiting further development. 501 were empty and for sale while just 354 were vacant because they were under repair. All up 2,858 state houses were not being used.
“There is huge demand for state houses - there are currently 4096 people on Housing New Zealand’s waiting list. More than 2400 are listed as Priority Eligible A or B.
“Why are thousands of state houses sitting empty and unused when there are people living in garages and families are forced to share houses in overcrowded conditions? It’s just crazy.
“Housing New Zealand is far too slow getting people in need into houses. We have thousands of families in genuine need, and we’ve got thousands of houses sitting empty. You don’t have to be a genius to work out what should happen.
“But instead of fast-tracking people into these houses, the Housing Minister Phil Heatley would rather pay security guards to watch over them to make sure they don’t get vandalised. And he can’t even tell us how much that is costing.
“Phil Heatley has no idea what he is doing. He’s giving Housing New Zealand no direction, and as a result it’s sitting paralysed like a possum in the headlights.
“While the Minister dithers, thousands of struggling families are waiting to get into houses that are sitting empty. He should hang his head in shame,” says Annette King.