126 Porirua state homes empty
Porirua’s empty houses are unacceptable, Mana MP Kris Faafoi says.
The Labour MP said the empty state houses had long been a problem for Porirua City.
‘‘It isn’t acceptable and it hasn’t been acceptable for a very long time....there’s been so many missed opportunities.
‘‘We hear the message that they need different sizes, but [the number of houses] isn’t going up.’’
He said the waiting lists proved there was a demand in the city for social housing and Housing NZ should be providing more homes, not less.
Of Housing New Zealand’s 2261 properties in Porirua, 29 were earthquake prone, 15 contaminated by methamphetamine and 40 were ‘pending sale.’’
A spokesperson for Housing NZ said the earthquake strengthening work was scheduled to be finished by the end of October.
They were unable to provide information on the houses for sale by Kapi-Mana News’ deadline.
The waiting list, maintained by the Ministry of Social Development, had 128 people waiting for homes in the city.
Porirua mayor Nick Leggett said he was frustrated by Housing NZ and he wanted to know why there weren’t more homes available.
‘‘Porirua City Council put money away for years to help HNZ build homes to accommodate the community and we’ve never had the opportunity.
‘‘What is their plan for existing and new stock in Porirua where the need is absolutely significant?’’
On the Kapi-Mana Facebook page Dianne Khan said she thought the situation was ridiculous.
‘‘There seems to be no real urgency to get this sorted, which is an outrage. We have people needing homes while homes stand empty! Shameful.’’
Philip Windley wanted to know why there were empty homes in his street.
‘‘What is the reason for them being vacant? Are they in a pos- ition to be re occupied at some stage or are they beyond that?’’
Cam Dowling took a harder line and said there was another reason for the vacancies.
‘‘Blame the irresponsible P cooks and users who made the vacant state houses uninhabitable. And why aren’t the extended family members helping out their own who have nowhere to live? [sic]’’