Logie Jan: Social Housing Reform (Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Amendment) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Social Housing Reform (Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Amendment) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 16 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10113. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): The Green Party will be opposing the Social Housing Reform (Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Amendment) Bill.Mike Sabin: Oh surely not.JAN LOGIE: No surprise. Although we have some lukewarm support for a couple of aspects of this bill we are strongly opposed to many of the measures within it. This bill establishes renewable tenancies. I usually like the word “renewable” but not in this situation. It shifts housing needs-assessments from Housing New Zealand to the Ministry of Social Development and extends income-related rents to community housing organisations but sadly also undermines their autonomy. It attempts to pretend that the Government is actually doing something about the problem of cold damp housing in this country when in fact it is just providing window dressing. Renewable tenancies: evictions by another name. The evictions of 1000 people in the first year are heralded by this bill and 3000 in total. That is into a housing crisis where in Auckland alone it is estimated that we are 12000 houses short already. In South Auckland the average annual turnover in private rental housing is four families a year because they cannot afford to meet the market rentals. That is where a young pregnant woman was found living in her car because she was earning a few dollars over the threshold for Housing New Zealand housing and could not find a private rental that she could afford. Shame on this Government.As my colleague Holly Walker noted in her very compelling speech last night which I recommend to everyone much of the harm of private rentals comes from the churn that we see because people cannot afford the rent or their landlords decide to get somebody else in and they have to move. This means that children end up moving between schools and cannot become part of a learning culture. People lose their social bonds and the connections that come from sharing your vegetables with your neighbours that enable you to get by that little bit better and that come from when people develop community. I have been a renter most of my life and I have moved on average twice a year which is just that reality of being a renter. I can attest to that loss of community and the high cost of moving—it costs a lot to move and re-establish yourself. That is money that is going to be lost from the poorest families in our community the people who can least afford it.This bill is a bloody travesty. Still this Government seems to have forgotten the point of State housing and I would like to remind it that it was a Liberal administration under Richard Seddon that first recognised the need for State housing. You brought in State housing—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order!JAN LOGIE: Sorry Mr Assistant Speaker not you. The National Government—a Liberal Government—was the first Government to bring in State housing because it recognised the growing reports of extortionate rents and squalid living conditions—Holly Walker: Sounds familiar.JAN LOGIE: —familiar—and it recognised a need for the State to provide a response. When Mr Sabin says we are whingeing about this and being liberals opposing it and we are not acknowledging your other bill to bring in extended urban limits and provide new housing I would remind you that in the 1950s the National Government opposed the development of State houses on the fringes recognising that development in the inner city made more sense and was better for people’s sustainability. This Government has lost its way. You have lost your values.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order!JAN LOGIE: Sorry Mr Assistant Speaker not you of course. This National Government has lost its way and is forgetting the people who most need its support.There is one aspect of this bill that could potentially provide some help and that is extending income-related rents to social housing. We recognise that social housing does do the job well. Wraparound services are really positive. However I provide three caveats on this. One is that it needs to be in addition. I acknowledge that this Government lost 300 homes from the State sector for the first time.Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga: What’s $30 million going to do? In addition.JAN LOGIE: Three hundred houses makes a difference. That is 300 families Mr Lotu-Iiga. It is sad to see them lose them.