Phil Heatley MP
National Party Housing Spokesman

18 October 2006

State house fraud not isolated - so how many?

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley is delighted that after seven long years Labour has decided to take an interest in the fraud taking place within HNZ at the taxpayer expense.

"I welcome Housing Minister Chris Carter's comments today that he will not tolerate the illegal occupation of state houses. It is just a pity it's taken Labour seven years to make that statement.

"I'm quite sure Mr Carter will deny there's any connection between his comments today and the questions I want answered about prosecutions and evictions of tenants from state houses found to have been occupied illegally.

"Any sub-letting or handing down of state houses is simply unacceptable when there are eleven and a half thousand people languishing on the HNZ waiting list.

"Given that Mr Carter has today confirmed that the Auckland case he refers to is not an isolated one, I look forward to full and transparent answers to my questions. He clearly knows this is a problem that he has been ignoring."

Mr Heatley notes that it's not the first time HNZ has been found wanting on tenant checks.

"When property vandalism is going through the roof, when tenants have multiple undeclared boarders, and when tenants are living in multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded homes, Labour knows it is pushing taxpayer generosity too far."

ENDS

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