21 March 2017

Tāmaki residents deserve stability, not social housing sales

Plans to sell the Tāmaki Housing Association, possibly to overseas buyers, create uncertainty for thousands of Auckland families who have already had their lives and homes shaken up by the Government’s social housing fiasco, the Green Party said today.

“We have a housing crisis and the number one priority should be increasing the supply of affordable, state, and community housing, not selling off social housing services,” said Green Party social housing spokesperson Marama Davidson.

“People living in Tāmaki and Glen Innes have been subjected to years of change and uncertainty while their community has been torn apart, and now, instead returning to normality, it looks like more uncertainty is in store for them.

“The Tāmaki Housing Association is only a year old and already part of it is up for sale. This is another social housing shambles and shows how badly the Government has lost control of housing.

“The Tāmaki community has rightly been angry at how they’ve been treated and how their homes have been bowled to make way for new million dollar houses.

“Is the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company trying to pick another fight with the community it’s supposed to be working alongside?

“It’s seriously worrying that experienced local community housing service providers could be overlooked in the sale process and interested parties don’t even need to be current community housing providers,” Ms Davidson said.

The proposal is to sell Tāmaki Housing Association’s tenancy services, not the houses themselves. Tāmaki Housing Association is jointly owned by the Government and Auckland Council.

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