Nats may have to sell state houses for free

The Government’s social housing policy is totally unravelling as the Iwi Chairs’ Forum says they believe the houses have a market value of zero, meaning the Government will have to give the houses away and lose billions of dollars, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“Haami Piripi said on The Nation the state house sell-off policy is a lemon but Iwi are willing to step up and take on the houses and tenants. But he said the starting point of negotiations is that the houses have a market value of zero.

“With no one else really in the frame this means the Government is set to give away thousands of state houses and billions of dollars of assets.

“Many of those houses are in Auckland which is a skyrocketing sellers’ market. With houses being sold for double their value it shows how inept Bill English is by selling houses for nothing. If he was a real estate agent he would be fired immediately.

“This is a hole the Government made for itself by charging ahead with a policy that no one really wants.

“If the only way to make Bill English’s pet project work is to give billions of dollars worth of houses away for free then the policy truly is a lemon. No seller in Auckland would put up with such a bad deal from their estate agent. Taxpayers will have the same view,” says Phil Twyford.

ENDS

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