Govt must not hand state housing to developer mates
green-party
Sun May 12 2013 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Govt must not hand state housing to developer mates
Sunday, 12 May 2013, 11:28 am
Press Release: Green Party
Govt must not hand state housing to developer mates
A Government plan to transfer Housing New Zealand properties to the community sector must be not be seen as a chance to abdicate responsibility for vulnerable state tenants or to benefit the Government's developer mates, the Green Party said today.
Housing Minister Nick Smith has announced plans to transfer up to 12,000 Housing New Zealand properties to the community housing sector in a bid to scale back the Government's role in social housing.
"While growing the role of the community housing sector is an important element of solving the current housing crisis, this looks on the surface like a plan to hand over control of state housing to corporate housing developers," Green Party housing spokesperson Holly Walker said.
"There is a big difference between genuine, non-profit community housing providers, and corporate housing developers who set themselves up as pseudo community providers.
"So far the Governments new Social Housing Fund hasn't shown adequate ability to differentiate between these in its criteria for awarding funds, so there is a real concern that if Nick Smith's plan is fast-tracked the beneficiaries will be National's developer mates, not the thousands of families in urgent need of affordable housing.
"This feels more like this Government just wants to pull out of social housing as much and as quickly as possible.
"It's important that the Government retains its responsibility for the wellbeing of low-incomes families and ensures that tenants in state, community, and private rental accommodation are all living in safe, secure, appropriate housing.
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"Transferring properties to the community housing sector shouldn't be seen as a chance to abdicate Government responsibility for the outcomes of those tenants.
"If carefully managed, with a high degree of Government oversight and responsibility, growing the community housing sector is a very good idea.
"Community providers can be more flexible and deliver appropriate housing for the particular needs of their tenants.
"However, if Nick Smith just wants to get out of the game as quickly as possible the results could be disastrous," Ms Walker said
ENDS
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