Housing should be warm and dry – full stop

State houses should be warm and dry, and not require tenants to beg for more help, the Green Party said today.

“John Key’s assertion that those in poor quality state housing should ‘reach out for more help’ mocks the fact that 40,000 children are hospitalised each year with respiratory illnesses that their damp, cold housing has helped cause,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

“People are reaching out for help, and asking to be transferred out of their mouldy, wet housing into healthier homes, but are being ignored.

“If they’re being ignored by Housing New Zealand, who are they supposed to go to? John Key?

“It’s not OK to put the onus on vulnerable families to line up at another agency in order to get the support they need. Housing should be warm and dry – full stop.

“Those with health issues due to their housing should be moved immediately, not left to wallow on a waiting list or shuffled from agency to agency.

“Let’s make sure our kids don’t get sick because the houses they live in are sick themselves,” said Mrs Turei.

ENDS

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