Faafoi Kris: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFaafoi Kris: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 04 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:483. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana)to the Minister responsible for HNZC: How many Housing New Zealand properties along Esk Place and Hazard Grove in Porirua will be demolished and sold; and is he aware of any other planned Housing New Zealand sales in the Porirua area?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister responsible for HNZC):Firstly can I tell the member that decisions on the day-to-day management of these homes are an operational matter for Housing New Zealand and the Minister does not make decisions. No decision has been made yet by Housing New Zealand regarding the use of land on these locations but Housing New Zealand does advise that three vacant multi-unit blocks containing 15 units at Esk Place and Hazard Grove will be demolished. Housing New Zealand advises that a total 23 vacant properties are for sale in Porirua—around 1 percent of the New Zealand housing properties which number 2681. I am pleased the member asked the question because it highlights a number of aspects of what needs to change. Twenty of the 23 for sale are three-bedroom houses. The majority of the 63 people on the waiting list in Porirua want one-bedroom homes not three-bedroom houses. So Housing New Zealand cannot really use those homes effectively for people off the waiting list. It needs to change its stock so it has one-bedroom homes for single-person households not three-bedroom homes which were appropriate 50 years ago. Housing New Zealand advises that it will reinvest according to need in Wellington and that may be in the Porirua area or it may be where demands for social housing are high.Kris Faafoi: Has the fact that these properties have been damaged while awaiting earthquake strengthening led to the decision to demolish and sell the land?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I simply cannot answer that question.Kris Faafoi: Will all funds raised from the sale of Housing New Zealand properties along Esk Place and Hazard Grove be earmarked for the construction of new Housing New Zealand properties in the same community or will it simply go into the consolidated account?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I think almost certainly these funds will be recirculated in Housing New Zealand Corporation. As I said part of the reason there are 23 properties for sale in Porirua is because 20 of them are three-bedroom houses and the people on the waiting list in that area are a majority of single-person households so Housing New Zealand Corporation will be changing the nature of its stock across Wellington to accommodate the changing needs of the tenants. After all I know it sometimes seems odd to the Labour Party but we care more about the tenants and meeting their needs than about the Government owning houses that are no longer efficient or effective in meeting the housing needs in Porirua. What is the point in keeping all the three-bedroom houses when we do not have people who need them?Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I would like you to reflect on the answer the Minister just gave—not the first part of the answer but the second part of the answer. That was a very straight factual question from Kris Faafoi which did not contain any attack on the Government. Instead what we got from Bill English was a long dissertation on what he thought the Labour Party’s position is. That is going to lead to a very lopsided question time if that sort of thing is going to continue.Mr SPEAKER: I will certainly reflect on the answer that was given. The initial part of the Minister’s answer was actually a very very genuine attempt in my opinion to answer the question that was raised. I accept there was some political connotation in the latter half of the answer. I will have a look at it for the member.Kris Faafoi: What is the profile of potential buyers of the land left vacant by demolitions on Esk Place and Hazard Grove?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I am not the local real estate agent so I cannot help but I imagine there are many young New Zealand families who may find a three-bedroom house at reasonable value in Porirua quite an attractive option compared with others. We certainly do not agree with the Labour Party policy that the Government must continue to own those three-bedroom houses when there are not significant numbers of people on the waiting list who can use them. If the Labour Party thinks we should be putting single people into three-bedroom houses then it does not understand what the tenants want. The tenants who live on their own want single or double-bedroom houses not large cold three-bedroom houses on big sections or in multiple blocks that they find hard to maintain. We are just trying to respond to tenant need. Labour is obsessed with owning all the State houses.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The answer is long enough.Kris Faafoi: Why does the Government think that there will be interest from private investors in social housing on land left vacant by his planned demolitions at Esk Place and Hazard Grove given there has been no interest from private investors in social housing for the nearby plot of barren land on Calliope Crescent owned by Housing New Zealand?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Those are all matters for Housing New Zealand but I do not see any reason why New Zealand families trying to get their feet on the bottom rung of the homeownership ladder possibly with the assistance of the Government’s Homestart package would not be interested in three-bedroom units in Porirua or if those units are demolished and something else is built why they would not be interested in shifting there. I have great confidence in that community. It is a stable community-orientated kind of place which is attractive for families to move to.Kris Faafoi: I seek leave to table two documents the first one being a photo of some vacant houses that will be soon demolished on Esk Grove—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That information will not help the House. [Interruption] Order! What is the second document the member wants to table?Kris Faafoi: This is a picture of the vacant land—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. The member needs to have a look at the Standing Orders and the reason for tabling documents—[Interruption] Order! When I am speaking to the member I do not expect him to continue interjecting. The purpose of tabling documents is if it is something that is informative to the House and something that is difficult for members to obtain. The purpose of tabling documents is not to further make a political point.