Ngaro Alfred: Social Housing Reform (Transaction Mandate) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Social Housing Reform (Transaction Mandate) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 18 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5901. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National): It is a privilege to stand and speak on the Social Housing Reform (Transaction Mandate) Bill in its first reading. I think that the previous speaker Carmel Sepuloni probably needs to do a little bit more homework before she actually launches off in her speech. Here is just a little bit of a history lesson right? Let us take the housing stock out in Glen Innes for instance. We are out there working in Glen Innes—that is right; there is a little bit silence of the lambs at the moment—and here is the evidence that shows that right? So we could talk about the rhetoric but let us talk about the facts of what actually happened.Out in Glen Innes there are around about 2500 State houses. The stock of houses in that area of Glen Innes was some of the worst and under the Labour Government the previous Government in 9 years not once did they go out to repair to maintain or even to rebuild the housing stock there.Kris Faafoi: Oh that’s rubbish.ALFRED NGARO: No it is not rubbish; it is actual fact. Why do I tell you this? You can talk to guys like Pat Snedden who are part of the Tāmaki Transformation Programme which actually started in 2007. It was an idea that came to fruition in 2008—set up under Helen Clark. At that time also Pat Snedden was helping to head that project. I as a community representative came along and actually gave some commentary around how they could engage with communities. So it is not rubbish; it is actual fact.It started under the Labour Government. Glen Innes was the worst stock of repairs and maintenance of any State housing in the whole of New Zealand. So before that member launches off and talks about the shameful record she needs to go back and have a look at her own party’s history because then she will see that under the Labour Government not once in 9 years did it actually rebuild that stock.So let us talk about what we are doing here. What we are doing here is this: we are taking the opportunity to be able to engage in the social housing sector. This bill is called the Social Housing Reform (Transaction Mandate) Bill.Kris Faafoi: You’re just selling them. Just say it.ALFRED NGARO: We call it transaction mandate. Let us use another word that maybe even Kris Faafoi may have heard. It is called the devolution of stock OK? Where did that word come from? Let us use the word “devolution”. Why? I know you will know that because when the Hon Steve Maharey was the Minister for Social Development he set up a thing called the Care and Protection Blueprint and I just happened to be part of that committee. On the Blueprint committee—that is right Mr Deputy Speaker I know you are attentively listening to this—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Do not bring me into it.ALFRED NGARO: In the Blueprint the conversation that was there was in fact this: do we trust the social sector to actually provide services that as a Government we cannot provide in regard to extended and extra services that are above and beyond our core services as a Government? The answer was yes we should do that.So devolution both in terms of housing stock and in the delivery of services was talked about way back then. We put together what was called a “blueprint plan”. That plan went to Cabinet and here is the one reason it did not go all the way. It was because the mandate was not given by Cabinet at that time under the Labour Government to trust in the socialsector to provide services that it could not provide. In other words they were not given the mandate. They were not given the mandate. So there you go. There is a little bit of a history lesson for you.Kris Faafoi: Here’s a history lesson: you’re selling the houses.ALFRED NGARO: So here is the reason why this bill is a point of difference Mr Faafoi. This bill is a point of difference because it simply does this: it says that actually we trust our social services. We trust the Housing Foundation with Brian Donnelly. We trust Habitat for Humanity. We trust VisionWest Community Trust and Lisa Woolley. Why? Because they deliver above and beyond what we are able to deliver. These are social services that have actually said to us: “Actually give us the opportunity to prove that we can do this.”So I think actually what this bill does is it shows that not only it is giving a statutory mandate to our Ministers but it is forming a relationship of trust in our social services and especially in the social housing sector the third sector to provide these services that are much needed in our communities. So we know what this does first and foremost.There are some issues of concern. I want to raise them because they have come out in some of the speeches and they are in regard to the relationships with iwi. We know there has been talk about that. It is important to note that in this bill it does not in any way change the first right of refusal rights that iwi may have over some Housing New Zealand properties. We know there has been some concern that is there.Denis O’Rourke: That’s not what it says.ALFRED NGARO: It is in the bill. We are keen to make sure that that relationship is maintained. We are working through a thorough process with iwi in Tauranga and in Invercargill to establish what rights and interests they have and we will deal with them in good faith. So that is one of the areas first and foremost.Denis O’Rourke: Get it right. He hasn’t got that right.ALFRED NGARO: We want to make sure just in case because on the Opposition—and unfortunately even with Mr O’Rourke—there is what we would call the manufacturing of crisis. It is all doom and gloom. It is only about the things that could go wrong not about the things that could go right which is what this Government is about.Let us talk about some other issues. This bill does not apply to Crown land. It only relates to land owned by Housing New Zealand. There was some concern that was raised there. No one’s rights under the Public Works Act are changing. The bill simply clarifies that the offer-back provisions of the Public Works Act have never applied to Housing New Zealand property. Again we want to sort of dispel the myths of doom and gloom that are coming from the Opposition as well.So what are the things that we think are really important in regard to the social housing issues? What are some of the achievements? While we talk about what the bill is doing let us look at some of the things that we have achieved so far in social housing. In June 2015 quarterly social housing register figures showed that the number of people on the register has decreased. That is right—by 1299 from the June 2014 quarter to 4541. That is a 22 percent decrease. I know that members of the public who are listening out there may want to hear these facts and figures. It is a 22 percent decrease.The Ministry of Social Development Housing New Zealand and the community housing providers are more intensively working to match people to houses that suit their needs. Here is that point of difference: we know that core services by the Government are what we are responsible for but where we go above and beyond—and this is that relationship of trust that is formed with social housing providers in which they can provide that.So it is important that we are matching people to houses that suit their needs and in fact maybe even as the previous speaker Mrs Sepuloni talked about the needs of those who potentially have disabilities. Social housing providers that have a particular niche are able to provide for those specific needs as well. And so the number of housing offers made and accepted increased to 1590 in the June 2015 quarter compared with 1522 in the June 2014 quarter as well.Let us talk about the tenancy reviews of those who are paying market rent and who are able to sustain private accommodation. They make more homes available for those who are more in need. I have seen this for myself. It is a really challenging space because it is almost as if the rhetoric that is being championed by the Opposition—Kris Faafoi: Don’t go there.ALFRED NGARO: —is “a State house for life”. I will go there because that is what I hear. It is almost like “a State house for life” you know? There is that sense of entitlement that they build into the houses and into the homes and even into the hearts of people who are in our communities.What we are saying is this: a State house is a provision for need in the circumstances that a family or an individual may find themselves in. But our belief is this—our belief which we will champion on this side is to help people to a sense of independence so that they can be self-determining in their future and for their families as well. So that is why we think it is important.From tenancy reviews of those paying market rent who are able to sustain private accommodation and from over 150 households who have moved into private market rents 11 tenants have purchased their own homes. That may not sound like much Mr O’Rourke but 11 tenants—we think actually there are 11 lives and 11 families who have been changed by this opportunity as well. We have also paid out around $380000 in housing support products to 204 people providing assistance for things like their bond moving costs and letting fees.I look forward to this bill going to the select committee. I look forward to the opportunity for submissions to be heard where we can actually hear from others who are out there and the providers. I also acknowledge the championing of our Minister for Social Housing and our Ministers who are actually out here because at the heart of this bill it is about the devolution of trust. It is about ensuring that actually in the third sector it has the ability to be able to reach and meet the needs that the poor Government cannot. We believe this is actually a move that is in the right direction. I commend this bill to the select committee and to the House.