12. MOANA MACKEY (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Housing
What initiatives in Budget 2010 will guarantee that all New Zealanders have access to appropriate and affordable housing?
Hon PHIL HEATLEY (Minister of Housing) Link to this
We are committed to assisting those most in need. The most significant Budget commitments we made were the income rents subsidy of $560 million, helping over 60,000 families; the accommodation supplement of $1.2 billion, helping 250,000 individuals; and the one-third of a billion dollars committed to insulating private homes, helping 180,000 people.
How does slashing the budget for acquisition and improvement of State houses by more than 80 percent and slashing the Healthy Housing programme by 62 percent help achieve this goal, particularly for those people like the young woman waiting for a kidney transplant highlighted in yesterday’s Dominion Post, who has been waiting for an appropriate Housing New Zealand Corporation home for more than a year?
When we took over the Government benches we found that the State housing stock had been left in serious disrepair. As part of the stimulus package to help the country through the recession, we decided to inject $120 million into repairing State houses and acquiring some more. That is now coming to an end. We are now at a more constant funding level. We will be upgrading up to 8,000 houses in the next 12 months.
Hekia ParataTēnā koe, Mr Speaker. How many New Zealanders have been supported in buying their own homes this year through the extended Welcome Home Loan scheme?
From 1 July 2009 to May 2010, 1,660 Welcome Home Loans were settled, which translates to access to home finance of $348 million for 2,500 New Zealanders.
Mr SPEAKERI must have missed something. I have no idea what went on there, but all I know is that the House was totally disorderly and disrespectful to the member I have called, Moana Mackey.
Does he agree with the figure provided to the Social Services Committee by the Housing New Zealand Corporation that only a net 282 homes will be added to the State housing stock over the next year; and does he believe that is adequate to address the growing Housing New Zealand Corporation waiting list, which now stands at nearly 11,000, 400 of whom are in severe housing need?
A range is given of, I think, between 242 and 302 State houses that will be acquired that year. We are not only acquiring State houses but also upgrading them, because we do not believe that current tenants should live in shabby conditions just so that we can acquire new houses, as happened under the previous Government.
If the Housing New Zealand Corporation is not able to “sharpen their pencil” and find savings out of baselines to acquire and maintain State houses, will the acquisitions and maintenance work not happen?