Macindoe Tim: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMacindoe Tim: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 24 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2485. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) to the Minister responsible for HNZC: What are the objectives of the Government’s social housing reform programme?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister responsible for HNZC): The programme will assist more people with serious housing need by delivering more social houses where they are most needed. The Government has set out five objectives: to ensure people who need housing support from the Government can get it; to help social housing tenants to independence as appropriate; to ensure that the properties for social housing are the right size and in the right place; to help increase the supply of affordable housing; and to encourage more diverse ownership of social housing.Tim Macindoe: What steps is the Government taking under the social housing reform programme to deliver on these objectives?Hon BILL ENGLISH: A number of steps. We will purchase 3000 more social housing places over the next 3 years and are currently in the process of purchasing 300 of them in Auckland. We will accelerate Housing New Zealand builds and disposals. We will open up access to income-related rents to the community housing sector. We are committed to 5000 tenancy reviews over the next 2 years to support tenants back into independence. Building is under way in the Tāmaki regeneration of up to 3000 houses. We are committed to the transfer of 1000 to 2000 houses to the community sector in the next 12 to 18 months.Tim Macindoe: What steps is the Government taking to get more social housing to where it is most needed?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Around one-third of Housing New Zealand houses—$18.7 billion worth of them—are the wrong size and in the wrong place. Just for instance 45 percent of current tenancies are for one single person—45 percent of our houses are occupied by one person—but only 9 percent of the housing stock has one bedroom. So we have thousands of single tenants in three-bedroom and two-bedroom houses. Housing New Zealand is making good progress in rebalancing its portfolio. Last year it sold 600 houses mostly in areas of low demand and it is currently building around 700 new houses this year.Darroch Ball: Does the Minister stand by his statement in reference to the social housing reform programme that “These other agencies are having a thorough look and are telling us a whole lot about our business we didn’t know.”?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Yes. State housing has been run by a Government monopoly for I think at least 70 years and because there has been no pressure to compete or to do a better job there have been significant aspects of that that were not clear to previous Governments or to this Government. But in this whole process of social housing reform we are finding things out like the fact that although 45 percent of our tenants are single-person households only 9 percent of our houses are single-bedroom households.Darroch Ball: Has his Government not released the findings of the warrant of fitness trial which includes 20 State houses in the Northland electorate because the results would show that these houses are falling apart around thousands of vulnerable tenants or is he waiting for these other agencies to tell the public what a disgrace these State houses are in?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The results of that trial will be released in due course but the member does highlight a reasonable issue. Pretty much every MP knows if they are doing their constituent work that this large-scale Government agency could have been doing a better job. I am pleased to say that Housing New Zealand’s performance is improving pretty rapidly now and I think the main reason is that there are others showing up where they could do it better.Tim Macindoe: What examples can the Minister provide of a community housing provider supporting the social housing reforms but opting not directly to buy former State houses on its own in the immediate future?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Yes I am aware that the Salvation Army yesterday confirmed that it supports the Government’s policy to have community organisations involved in the management of social housing and that under the current policy it will continue to provide and expand its social houses. It confirmed that it is keen to pursue housing partnerships between itself the Government and other groups but it did say that it would not take part in these particular transactions. I am pleased to say that there is widespread interest in the Government housing policy because unlike the Labour Party everyone else in New Zealand thinks it can be done better.