Hon Bill English
Minister Responsible for Housing New Zealand Corporation

Hon Paula Bennett
Minister for Social Housing

25 September 2015

Government seeks community input on social housing

Treasury and the Ministry of Social Development are looking to identify further opportunities for the supply or transfer of social housing, Ministers Bill English and Paula Bennett say.

“Under the Social Housing Reform Programme the Government has committed to subsidise an additional 3,000 social housing tenancies nationally, by the end of 2018,” Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says.

“To supplement programmes already underway, the agencies today published a Request for Information to enable potential providers and developers to submit ideas for the supply of new social housing or the transfer of existing social housing.

“We are asking for suggestions for redevelopment of non-Crown land for social housing in high demand areas, particularly in Auckland, and also what other Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC) properties might be suitable for transfer or lease to registered community housing providers.”

Other programmes to increase the supply and quality of social housing places are well underway and include large scale redevelopments such as Tāmaki in Auckland, the potential transfer of HNZC properties and tenancies in Tauranga and Invercargill, and the completion of a programme providing $139 million of capital subsidies to community housing organisations to build 890 new units.

“We are making progress with social housing reform and we want more options on how to increase supply and improve quality, particularly in Auckland,” Housing New Zealand Minister Bill English says.

The Government wants to hear from providers and developers interested in the:

• Transfer or lease of existing HNZC properties and tenancies for ongoing social housing purposes. These may occur over several years to follow Invercargill and Tauranga should Government decide to proceed.

• Redevelopment of land they own, or intend buying for new social housing, or a mix of social and affordable housing, in high-demand areas like Auckland, Christchurch, Waikato, Wellington, Northland and Bay of Plenty.

ENDS

© Scoop Media