Turei MetiriaNew Part 7 Amendment to Housing Corporation Act 1974METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green): I am very pleased to offer this additional housing solution to the Committee tonight as part of the large suite of housing solutions offered by the Opposition in response to the Government's failure to do anything about the housing crisis. So this is the seventh of the proposals put forward. This one comes from a piece of work that the Greens did before the Budget so in May of this year where we announced our Homes Not Cars policy which was to allow Housing New Zealand to retain both its tax and its dividend for the purposes of building State houses. At the time that we made that announcement it was the beginning of that acute awareness of the extent to which the homelessness crisis was hitting New Zealanders. We had in the Greens the enormous privilege of having a young woman Rhiannon come and tell her story with us at the launch of that policy. She was a young mother of three children one of whom has lung disease—young Emma. Rhiannon was incredibly courageous in telling her story to the New Zealand public opening herself to potential abuse and judgment. But she talked with her courage and with her concern for her daughter with her about how—after a redundancy a relationship break up and having to move from a rental home that was being sold—she found herself in this terrible situation of having three children one of whom was terribly ill and in hospital and having nowhere to live but her car. She had nowhere to live but her car. As she said at the time she felt she could live in a car if that was what was necessary but she could not take her very sick daughter to live in a car. She talked about the six medications that her daughter needed every day that needed to be refrigerated which of course she could not do in a car. So she was having to share her children out amongst friends and family move Emma in and out of hospital where she had some times with her sleeping on friends' couches and some times back in the hospital. Her homelessness situation was acute. After the announcement of our policy which is now set out here in new Part 7 New Zealanders actually came to the party and she was offered rental accommodation and was able to secure stable accommodation and for that we were very grateful and so was she for New Zealanders' generosity and kindness. But she should not have to rely on the kindness of strangers because that is what she had to rely on to find a home. She should have been able to go to the agencies and the services of Housing New Zealand and talk to them about her story and show them what her needs were and they should have been able to find her a house. That is what the State housing system was built for to make sure that a young woman like her with her young children has a house to live in where she could take care of her sick daughter who has lung cancer. But as we all know Housing New Zealand under this Government has been required to pay a dividend and tax until very recently—exposed by Steven Joyce of course. It had State housing being sold and so there are not enough State houses for the families who desperately need them like Rhiannon's. This amendment this change to the Housing Corporation Act is quite a modest change. What it does is it will free up Housing New Zealand's obligation to pay a dividend. So it is not the tax part; that requires quite a bit more change. But this new Part 7 will enable Housing New Zealand to no longer have to pay a dividend into the Government's general coffers but instead to retain that surplus and use that for the purposes of building State houses State houses that families like Rhiannon's need. This is critical because 2500 State houses have been sold off under this Government we have 4500 people on the waiting list and we have the lowest number of State houses per population since 1949. It is an absolute disgrace. The destruction of the State housing system that has provided the safety net for thousands tens of thousands of New Zealanders over many many many decades—[Bell rung]The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): Metiria Turei but before I allow her to continue with her call if she would just be seated for a moment. I would just make the point that she spent 4 minutes 30 before she talked about what her amendment was going to do what this part is going to do about retaining a dividend and applying it to the purchase of new houses. I urge her to stay on point in her second call and to talk to the part that we are discussing at the moment. Thank you.METIRIA TUREI: Thank you Mr Chair. Of course Rhiannon's story is very specifically connected to this new Part 7 because new Part 7 will enable more State houses to be built—modest proposal as it is—so that women like her mothers like her will have a place to live. I think that is an important story to tell in this Committee. We have to remember that housing issues are not intellectual issues. They are not pointy-headed policy issues; they are about the ability for ordinary New Zealanders to live an ordinary decent life. Our job in Parliament is to provide—through amendments like the one I have put on the Table today—the structure the infrastructure and the funding to enable that decent life to be supported for New Zealanders. So this provision will mean that the surplus of Housing New Zealand will not have to be sent directly back to the Government for it to use as it chooses but reinvested in Housing New Zealand to build more homes. Now it is modest and I think that that is important and I think that is not only important to note but it is important to recognise that even modest changes to the law can make a significant difference. This means around 250 houses possibly depending on the nature of the building or 300 new State houses every year. It is a small step towards the many thousands that we need but every single tool to fix this housing crisis is needed. This is one of those tools. We can free up this financial opportunity for Housing New Zealand in order to build more State houses. As I said we have the lowest number of State houses per population since 1949 while 4500 people are on the waiting list. Let us just reflect for a moment on the 4500 people on the waiting list because 10 times that many are technically homeless in this country. Ten times that many do not have a safe secure home to call their own. The core function we would have thought of Housing New Zealand and in fact of government is to make sure that all New Zealand families have a decent safe and secure home to call their own. So while we have 4500 people on the State house waiting list we have 10 times that number who are in severe housing need. So actually the State house waiting list is just a very very tiny proportion of the people who actually need to be housed in this country. We need to remember that as we go through. That is why all of the previous tools that have been put forward by the Opposition and voted down by the Government have been so important for us to discuss over the last number of hours. Because these are the solutions that will house New Zealanders including this solution to enable Housing New Zealand to increase its State house building programme by at least another 250 homes perhaps even 300 homes in a year. And let us not forget how much the forecast dividend was. Steven Joyce did as I understand it agree with our policy and we appreciate that he agreed with our policy—using Twitter to announce his new policy framework that he would not require a dividend from Housing New Zealand.Phil Twyford: He's so modern!METIRIA TUREI: It was such a modern announcement. It was very hip; it was very social media—the new way.Hon Christopher Finlayson: What's Twitter?METIRIA TUREI: Ha ha! Yes a very modern way of communicating his new policy. So we are very pleased that our Government has done it at least for this year and possibly for next year. But there is no justification for Housing New Zealand ever having to provide a dividend to the Government. Housing New Zealand has a core function of providing housing services to the country. Providing rental housing principally for those who need it is one of the core functions of Housing New Zealand. That is an expensive service. You have to build homes in order to make sure that there are enough. You have to make sure that you have a good infrastructure and a good funding source to keep doing it. Requiring Housing New Zealand to provide a dividend has been one of the worst decisions of this Government because it has prevented Housing New Zealand from engaging in its core function which is making sure that New Zealanders those who need it have a decent and safe and secure home to live in. I urge members of the Committee to support this. I urge National members to support it. It is after all National policy now according to Steven Joyce so they should have no problem supporting a bill that does exactly what Steven Joyce has said he wants to do. I look forward to their support in the future. Thank you.