Privatisation of state housing will not solve the housing crisis

The Tāmaki Redevelopment Company (TRC) have been silent about their role in the gentrification of Glen Innes, Panmure and Point England. Yesterday, however, the Government announced that 2,800 houses are going to be privatised in a stock transfer to TRC.

TRC was set up through the Heads of Agreement, signed between the Government and the Auckland Council. TRC have been a key player in the urban renewal of Tāmaki and frame themselves as community-led, however have systematically erased the voices of tenants who do not want to move from their communities.

The urban renewal of Glen Innes, led by TRC, is an experiment project for what is called ‘mixed communities’. This model involves the removal of state housing and the building of mixed tenure housing (private, affordable and social).

The mixed community model is framed in policy as solving the problems associated with the concentration of poverty such as crime and anti-social behaviour, however international research suggests that it is a guise for state-led gentrification of communities seen as having increased land values [1]. Since the redevelopment of Glen Innes, average house prices have increased from $400,000 to over $700,000 [2]. This makes Tāmaki desirable for property speculation and further development.

The transfer of state housing stock to Community Housing Providers (CHPs) disguises the privatisation of state housing, the displacement of state house tenants, and hides the reduction of state houses. This transfer is driven by a market logic which seeks to minimise the State’s social responsibility.

This is not a solution to the housing crisis, which most severely impacts low-income tenants. This is a state-led gentrification and privatisation process which is replacing of the nation’s largest public asset with a private social housing market.

Communities are not commodities. Communities cannot be erased and recreated.

For more information go to the Save Our Homes website: www.saveourhomes.co.nz

[1] Bridge, G, Butler, T and Lees, L. (2012). Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth? Bristol: The Policy Press

[2] https://www.qv.co.nz/suburb/area-profile/glen-innes-auckland/435

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