No Community for Sick Children

No Community for Sick Children

A recent story in the news of a mother whose child is suffering from severe health problems due to their mouldy home in Glen Innes is yet another reminder of the Government's failure to provide adequate and safe housing for vulnerable New Zealanders.

This story is not isolated, homes in Glen Innes have been depreciated through a lack of maintenance for a long time. Families in the community have called on assistance from Housing New Zealand for repairs and maintenance with little response.

The part of the story that has not been told is that these state houses in Glen Innes have been purposely not maintained so that the government can sell the land to private developers for a redevelopment project that will push families like the Wensor family away from their communities and into the fringes of the city without an improvement in their living conditions

The Wensor family have been told that there are no homes available in Glen Innes for them, however there are 50 empty state homes, many of which are in good conditions.

Some of these empty homes, which could have been housing families in need, have been empty for up to 4 years while developers wait for the land values to increase beneath them. The reason she will not be offered a home in Glen Innes is because the community being built is not for her and her whānau.

Once she moves from her current home, she will be made to sign a new contract for three years in her new home, this will place her family in transience which will impact the health and social outcomes of her children.

2,800 state homes in the wider Tāmaki area (Glen Innes, Panmure and Point England) are being transfer to Tāmaki Redevelopment Company under the Social Housing Reforms. This is part of a wider privatisation process of a major state asset.

The transferring of state housing to private-public companies has been proven to fail internationally. This process will not improve the conditions for state housing tenants, it will make conditions worse for families like the Wensor family.

The Tāmaki Housing Group demand a stop to the transfer of state housing stock to the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company and argue that this will lead to the eviction and increased vulnerability of tenants, as well as the gentrification of the Tāmaki area.

ENDS

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