The Government should focus on fixing Housing New Zealand rather than sell state houses to overseas interests, Labour says.
A plan to sell or lease between 1000 and 2000 state homes to community housing providers has drawn the interest of Australian not-for-profit Horizon Housing, which has Opposition parties claiming the benefits will go offshore.
Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says the Government is less interested in who has control of the houses so long as the needs of vulnerable New Zealanders are met.
"I'm most interested in what we can do for New Zealanders in need, and quite frankly with some really serious need. We've seen some examples recently where the housing standards we have and the needs of those tenants can be better addressed by others as well as the state, and that is our focus," she says.
Whoever ends up acquiring the houses will need to show how they will reinvest in New Zealand and how they can manage tenants, Ms Bennett says.
But Labour leader Andrew Little says the Government being open to overseas organisations taking over the provision of social housing is all about Finance Minister Bill English's ideology.
"Yes there are problems now, but selling them off holus-bolus to the Aussies is not the panacea, it's not the answer to the problems. That's a fiction. This is ideology. This is Bill English and his ideological madness about small government and getting the Government out of social provision gone completely over the top."
Housing New Zealand has been doing the job of running state housing for 80 years, and Mr Little saw no need in suddenly looking for help.
"There is nothing that an overseas owner can do or could do that we haven't been able to do," he says.
"HNZ properly run, collecting tenants' rent and with proper Government backing, can do the job.
"We've never needed to have the Aussies or anybody else from overseas holding our hands looking after our most vulnerable and those on the lowest incomes."
He acknowledged previous governments need to "cop criticism" about past failures of HNZ, but work now needs to focus on fixing the corporation.
Mr Little also acknowledged the HNZ stock were in no way adequate, saying he receives letters from tenants frequently and has visited state homes in New Plymouth in the past.
The Government being open to overseas groups buying houses shows how desperate they are to have their plan work, especially with little interest from organisations in New Zealand, Mr Little says.
This included the Salvation Army, which ruled itself out of taking part in the programme.
Ms Bennett says international organisations are already working in New Zealand.
"Vulnerable New Zealanders would be worse off if they weren't here in New Zealand working with them. That's how I look at it – is it really about the people."
3 News
source: newshub archive
