10. METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) Link to this
to the Minister of Housing
How many people are currently on the State housing waiting list?
Hon PHIL HEATLEY (Minister of Housing) Link to this
I am advised that there 10,749 people on the waiting list, of whom about 380 are categorised as being in severe housing need. Their waiting time is about 10 days.
Will providing no money for building new State houses in this year’s Budget reduce the number of people—10,749—who are waiting for a home?
Actually, the Government provides about $650 million on income-related rents, which goes into the Housing New Zealand Corporation and which the corporation is free to use on accumulating houses. We are encouraging it to do so.
Will providing no new money for the building of new State houses increase or decrease the growing inequality in Aotearoa New Zealand?
I assure the House that the net number of State houses has increased since National has been in Government, and it will continue to increase while we are in Government.
How will the effect of slashing funding for State housing in this year’s Budget impact on the 30 percent of at-risk and vulnerable young people who are living in unsafe and insecure housing and the 10 percent of New Zealanders who live in overcrowded housing?
The member may not be aware, but last year’s Budget contained part of the $120 million stimulus package, which was a one-off payment, for 18 months, to repair State houses that were in serious disrepair and to add new State houses. That $120 million capital injection finishes on 30 June. That is not a cut in State housing; it is a stimulus boost during the recession, which has now ended.
Is the Minister saying that the marginally higher spending last year justifies the gutting of the Budget this year, leaving, still, 10,749 people and their families on the State house waiting list waiting for a home?
I direct the member to the Budget vote of 3 years ago, which was the Budget of the last Government, and to Bill English’s most recent Budget. She will find that operating appropriations have increased by about $30 million and capital receipts by about $65 million. If one takes the in-between Budget, which was a National Budget, one will see that, yes, there has been a drop, mainly because of the $120 million stimulus package.
What Budget does the Minister expect that Housing New Zealand Corporation will need to slash in order to, as he has said, find the hundreds of millions of dollars for the promised 1,550 State houses that he said will be built?
I am not sure how the member came up with “hundreds of millions of dollars” for X number of houses. I do not know what she pays for her houses. We occasionally buy houses, we sometimes build houses, and Housing New Zealand Corporation leases houses. I can tell that member that we are asking Housing New Zealand Corporation to make savings, like every Government department, even though it is a State-owned entity, and we are continuing to make significant appropriations to Housing New Zealand Corporation.
When will this Minister fight just as hard for the 10,749 people and their little families on the State house waiting list as he did for his own little family?
I am quite concerned for those on the waiting list, particularly the close-to 400 people in significant and serious housing need. But, equally, John Key and I and this team were concerned about the 69,000 current tenants, many of whom were living in squalor because the State housing stock had fallen into such disrepair. Most of our capital has gone into that, because we care about those who are currently in State houses as well as those who are on the waiting list.
Moana MackeyWhat advice has he requested about the impact of rises in GST and inflation, as well as predicted rent increases of up to 8 percent in the private sector, on demand for State housing?
My understanding is that Treasury expects a 1.5 percent increase in rentals over the next 3 to 5 years, so I challenge that figure. I can say that Housing New Zealand Corporation has come under increased pressure to house people during the recession, as one would expect. That may continue, although our Options and Advice Service is seeing a lot more people housed privately or buying their own homes.
Does he think he has his priorities straight when Housing New Zealand Corporation is being asked to “find savings in baselines for much of their operations” while he has sat idly by while the corporation has paid consultants $600 an hour to develop an $11 million business case for a computer upgrade that its own reports say it does not need?
The member ought to know that the stock of State houses is worth $14 billion, and Housing New Zealand Corporation receives over $1 billion a year either in rents or Government subsidies. So spending a few million dollars on a computer information technology system and the support that goes around it will keep track of those houses and those tenants. That way we can track and upgrade the stock instead of leaving it to get into serious disrepair.