Heatley Phil: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Heatley Phil: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19349] 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY (Minister of Housing) 
: 
 I very much look forward to the post-election environment. If New Zealanders decide to put John Key back in as Prime Minister and he chooses the next Minister of Housing that Minister will oversee the Housing New Zealand Corporation as it insulates its very last home probably in about 2013 or 2014. Out of 69000 State houses across this country the Housing New Zealand Corporation will be insulating the last home that requires it in a couple of years’ time. We have about 2500 to insulate next year and about 2100 to do the year after that. In the financial year before this one we did more than 8400 insulations in just over 12 months which is quite stunning when one thinks about it. 
Te Ururoa Flavell raised the issue of the condition of State houses. The Housing New Zealand Corporation has a commitment to increasing the conditions of its State housing stock rather than growing the State house numbers as much as under the previous Government. It has decided with the Government’s support to upgrade the State houses. The way the corporation has bitten off that challenge has been a huge credit to it. We have seen State houses with their bedroom numbers increased we have seen State houses that had fallen into serious disrepair bowled removed or sold and replaced with new houses and of course we have seen the insulation scheme which has been very very important. The member was quite right in saying that in delivering State housing we are delivering a large proportion of it to Maori families. 
One of the other issues to consider when we look at the State housing asset if you like—the actual houses out there—is that about 27000 State houses out of the 69000 are essentially inappropriate. About 42000 houses are about right and we can keep and maintain them but about 27000 have to be upgraded or sold and replaced so that we maintain the State housing stock. Essentially the problem is that many of those houses are three-bedroom houses when Maori families are often much larger and need four or five-bedroom houses. Many people live alone these days and they simply want a one or two-bedroom home. So we have thousands of houses that are the wrong size. Then we have a large number of houses that are in the wrong locality and need to be disposed of and we need to build or purchase replacement State houses in the right locality. We also have some State houses that are in a serious state of disrepair. On that side of it the Housing New Zealand Corporation is very focused on bringing the State housing up to what it calls a level that is fit for purpose so that no longer among the 69000 State houses do we have 27000 of them not fit for purpose. Instead the whole State housing stock will be fit for purpose. That will take a long time indeed but certainly the train has left the station. 
We are also looking at tenancies and the Housing New Zealand Corporation is very focused on this issue. On 1 July any new tenant signing up with the corporation will no longer be getting a State house for life. It was a Labour Party principle that if someone got a State house they got it for life. It did not matter if they won Lotto or their circumstances had improved. It did not matter even if they had had six kids who had all left home 25 years ago and the tenant was left with five bedrooms and just themselves there the Labour Party told them to keep the five-bedroom State house even though it was just one person on a quarter-acre section who was sick of mowing the lawns. That situation has ended. From 1 July any new tenant coming into State housing will have their circumstances reviewed every 3 years. That will mean that those families whom Mr Flavell talked about who are on the waiting list and who really need a State home will be able to move into one because those families who no longer need a State home will transition out of them and into renting in the wider social housing sector private rental or perhaps even homeownership. Essentially we will have a housing continuum there so we can help more people on the waiting list. That is a very important point indeed and I thank the member for his support of that. 
Report noted.