First state house sell-off will achieve little

The first tranche of the Government’s state house sell-off will do nothing to fix the housing crisis or better the lives of vulnerable families, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says.

The Government has just announced the transfer of 1600 state houses to community housing providers in Tauranga and Invercargill.

“Changing the ownership of these homes won’t provide the extra houses or improve the quality of cold, damp rental properties which are making our kids sick.

“This policy is driven by Bill English’s mad quest to get state houses off the Government’s books.

“The Housing NZ Minister is desperate to off load these homes to anyone that will take them after our most respectful social agency Salvation Army declared the policy it would not improve the lives of tenants and walked away.

“The Government has no evidence to support their claim that social housing providers can do a better job of managing state houses than Housing NZ.

“There is nothing wrong with social housing providers being more involved but National is doing nothing to increase the numbers of state and social houses to get families off waiting lists. Nor is it doing anything to retrofit cold damp private rentals,” Phil Twyford says.

ENDS

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