7. State and Social Housing—Sale and Condition of Housing StockPHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Social HousingState and Social Housing—Sale and Condition of Housing Stock7. PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Social Housing: Does she stand by her statement look I can't guarantee that" when asked if anyone living in a car can go to a Government agency today and get a roof over their head tonight?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Housing): Yes. However I work hard every day and I know front-line staff do as well to help people who for a variety of reasons find themselves in the unexpected circumstance of needing an urgent roof over their head that day.Phil Twyford: Is it not true that if Bill English had not taken half a billion dollars in dividends out of Housing New Zealand and had not reduced the number of State houses by 2500 there would be a lot fewer families living in garages now?Hon PAULA BENNETT: No because we have put more money into social housing than certainly has been ever taken out in a dividend.Phil Twyford: Why are she and Bill English focused on selling off more State houses in the middle of a housing crisis when the Invercargill and Horowhenua sales have fallen through respected social agencies like the Salvation Army and the Methodist Mission refuse to participate and there is a homelessness crisis?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Just yesterday the High Court ruled that the sales can go ahead in Tauranga so that sale will be proceeding. Actually we are really interested in community housing providers building their asset base and playing an important role in social housing. As the member himself said in his speech a few years ago this is what actual action looks like instead of just a sort of rhetoric of a speech that you can give.Phil Twyford: Why does she continue to support selling off the State house that gave John Key the start in life to become Prime Minister when all the evidence shows that providing reliable State support is important to giving people the opportunity to one day be Prime Minister or one day to run for Deputy Prime Minister?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Because those houses will stay in social housing and actually the Government will still provide the subsidy to ensure—well actually it is part of the contract that it retains in social housing. The Government will continue to pay a high proportion of the rent as it does now through subsidies and actually increasing the number of people who own them through community housing providers is a good thing for those tenants.Phil Twyford: Who is responsible—her or Bill English—for the fact that Housing New Zealand has wasted more than $21 million and has more than 500 houses lying empty because of incompetence in the testing for methamphetamine contamination?Hon PAULA BENNETT: There have been health and safety issues around meth-contaminated houses and up till recently the only measure that they have had has been one that has been at 0.5 and a health one that is being dictated. We would like to see more houses available for those tenants quicker but at the end of the day there are also contractors who need to clean them out and feel that they and the staff who are in them are safe. In fact we have people saying that they want to move out of those houses because they are concerned about the contamination.Phil Twyford: Does she think that her stuff-ups around flying squads that never existed paying people to get out of town and leaking personal information about Te Puea Marae chairman Hurimoana Dennis are the reasons why the Prime Minister does not have the confidence to name her as his successor?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I think the fact that more than $350 million has gone into emergency housing in the last 18 months the fact that we have got more than 3000 new social houses in the pipeline and ones being opened every single week the fact that we house more than 150 people each week off our wait-list and the fact that New Zealanders now have hope—which they did not have under a previous Labour Government—that they will actually have a roof over their heads and a Government that cares speaks for itself."