Logie Jan: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3685. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): I rise to take a call on this the third reading of the legislation arising from the Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill. When my colleague Kevin Hague spoke in the first reading of this bill he said this bill was an emblem of the Government’s wider housing agenda and evoked the Government’s own consultation process for the flag referendum distraction. Members will know that New Zealanders in that campaign are being asked “What do you stand for?” and then pose for photos holding a sign saying what they stand for. Well with this bill one can all too easilyimagine I think the Prime Minister holding his sign no doubt with a relaxed smile on his face. The sign might read: “I stand for abdication of Government responsibility.” Or it might say: “I stand for not giving a damn.” Or it might say “I stand for the ideology of pink and grey of the 1980s and 1990s.” even though that failed miserably the first time around. Or it might even say: “I stand for contempt for the normal democratic process that should surround a bill like this.”There is a housing crisis in this country. People from Invercargill to Kaitāia are sleeping in cars in overcrowded housing and on other people’s couches because they cannot get into State houses and cannot afford private rentals. All but the most privileged young people are now facing a lifetime of renting and of never being able to buy their own home—something that was once considered a birthright for those in this country. This represents growing intergenerational inequality and the abandoned generation.It also represents a demise of community. One of the National members said last night that this National Government represents big community. Well I can tell that member and members on that side of the House that in my community a low-income community there is amazing heart and amazing kindness but it is hard for that to bed in in communities because sadly all too often people are having to move because they are in rental accommodation and they cannot afford the costs. So my community is constantly in flux because of the policies of this Government which undermine our entire social fabric. This Government’s approach undermines community.I was at the Child Poverty Action Group post-Budget breakfast this morning and was really moved by a presentation from a young emergency department doctor talking about the personal shock he had experienced when seeing the emergency department in Wellington turn into what seemed like a paediatric clinic during the cold snap just last month in April. While he was studying he had learnt in his studies about the social determinants of health. He knew that poverty and poor housing are causing illness. There are about 40000 preventable hospital admissions a year in this country. He had learnt through his study that more than one child a week dies from poverty-related illnesses in this country many connected to the quality and over-crowding of our housing. He knew all of this theoretically but he told us that none of that learning prepared him for the reality of facing that onslaught of children coming in in the middle of the night in waves of sickness with bronchial diseases and even pneumonia. He said that this Budget and this legislation will do nothing to stem the flow of children into the emergency departments of this country and it will do nothing to stop the deaths.It grieves me that when this Government had the opportunity to present us with legislation that could have turned that round what we have instead is legislation that is making it easier for the Government to transfer State housing stock into the hands of private developers and possibly some community organisations. Last night when Government members bothered to take their maybe maximum 2-minute calls on this bill they mentioned a commitment to home insulation from this Government. I would like to remind this House that that was a Green Party initiative—an initiative that this Government stopped before the job was done. Again how familiar is that?Chris Bishop: That’s not true. That’s a bit harsh. That’s unfair.JAN LOGIE: The member says that is not true. I would like to ask the member whether every house in this country is insulated. Would every house in this country pass a warrant of fitness? Are our houses still killing our children? The reality is that they are still killing our children. You have not finished the job.This legislation is passing under urgency without the possibility for the public to contribute to it except through one media release from the community housing providers which are telling us they believe it is timid and will not solve the problems that we are seeing in the communities. This legislation is passing without analysis from Treasury and without any substantive input and analysis of the implications particularly the fiscal implications. It is passing without I would say even one coherent substantive speech from the Government members to provide detail on this legislation so that those of us on this side of the House and the public of New Zealand can properly engage with what the Government is doing.It seems to me that at the heart of this legislation it is helping the Government to transfer State housing stock to property developers. Although the Green Party absolutely supports the role of community housing providers we believe it needs to be in addition to a strong State housing sector. We absolutely oppose the transferring of State housing resources—our collective public resources—into the hands of the private sector to make a profit off the vulnerability of New Zealanders.This Government is failing in housing at every turn. The public expects that New Zealanders will not be sleeping on the streets or in cars or garages but this Government has done nothing to address homelessness or provide emergency housing. The public expects that it should be possible for someone to rent a house and feel secure but this Government has presided over skyrocketing rents and making rental tenure less secure. Landlords seem to be in some kind of race to the bottom these days and in fact the worst standards have become entrenched. Right now landlords—including tragically Housing New Zealand—that lose their cases in the Tenancy Tribunal are now using 90-day notices to evict tenants.The public expects that everyone will have a home that is at least healthy dry and warm. Yet despite the Green Party policy for home insulation many New Zealanders are still living in houses that are broken in disrepair and are making them ill. The public expects that that traditional dream of homeownership should still be available to all yet the Government seems relaxed about the situation in Auckland where the median house price is now around $800000 while the median household income for people under 35 is $50000. Younger people in Auckland are being permanently excluded from homeownership with devastating economic consequences for them personally and for our wider economy into the future.Finally I do want to remind National that it was actually the first party to build State houses in this country.Chris Bishop: That’s right.JAN LOGIE: Yes. In 1905 Richard Seddon passed the Workers’ Dwelling Act to build the first State houses for inner-city workers to rent. He thought New Zealanders could enjoy higher standards of living if the State took over from “greedy city landlords”. I still believe that is true.