Tenants worried by proposed sale of social housing
Hundreds of state and council homes north of Wellington that are almost all occupied are to go on the block for sale, with prospective buyers being lined up this week.
The Government and Horowhenua District Council are looking to sell off 364 houses in a plan that will have information sessions for potential buyers held in Levin and Wellington this week.
The homes are mostly tenanted by the the elderly, single people or single parents.
A joint information document released in the lead-up to the meetings said Housing NZ and the council were ‘‘jointly seeking a community housing provider to deliver social and affordable housing in the Horowhenua District and Otaki’’.
‘‘We intend to transfer all of Horowhenua District Council’s 115 community housing properties and 249 of Housing New Zealand Corporation properties to a community housing provider who can bring fresh thinking to how tenants are supported and properties are managed.’’
Lyle Walker, a Housing NZ tenant in Temuera St, Otaki, who shares his three-bedroom home with his partner and six children, said he had not been told about any potential sale of the house, and was concerned about what that would mean for them.
‘‘They could just turn around and say: Look, you don’t meet the criteria.’’
The family have lived in the house for five years, after shifting from Porirua.
They were encouraged to do so by Housing NZ because there were so many empty state homes in Otaki. ‘‘You could just, boom, get a Housing New Zealand’s sale portfolio has 249 properties that are exclusively used for social housing. They have a 98 per cent occupancy rate. They are tenanted by mostly single people or single parents and their children. There are 127 Horowhenua District Council tenants, comprising 14 couples and 99 singles. They are at 96 per cent occupancy. The tenants are mostly older people on superannuation. (Source: Information Memorandum on the joint sale released by the Government and Horowhenua District Council.)
house. This empty.’’
Now, he said, almost all the houses were taken, and it was hard to find any others available in Otaki.
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Labour Party leader Andrew Little said the properties might be sold to social housing providers, but ‘‘anyone can register as one’’.
‘‘Despite a housing crisis and families being forced to live in cars and garages, National is forging ahead with its ideologically-driven plan to hock off thousands of state houses throughout the country.’’
Little said that at the last round of meetings for state house selloffs in Invercargill and Tauranga, 40 per cent of those expressing interest were banks, consultants, law firms, companies and lobbyists.
The Housing NZ sale would see 151 homes sold in Levin, 21 in Foxton, 70 in Otaki and seven in Shannon.
Little said three bidders had been locked in negotiations over the Tauranga houses for many months.
‘‘Two of them are consortia dominated by merchant bankers, overseas companies and property developers.’’