Phil Heatley MP
National Party Housing Spokesman

6 September 2006

$2 million state home in Auckland

National's Housing spokesman Phil Heatley is calling on Chris Carter to justify why Labour continues to subsidise one family in a $2 million state home in Auckland while more than 11,000 needy families languish on the HNZ waiting list.

"Labour's continuing mismanagement of the housing stock means there are thousands of Kiwi families in desperate need of help who simply aren't getting any."

He is commenting in the wake of answers to written parliamentary questions which show the most expensive HNZ property in the country is in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes and is valued at $2 million.

Three other state houses in Auckland are valued at more than $1.4 million.

"Why do we have one family in one state house when we could be looking after three, four, or even five families?

"Chris Carter told Parliament today that the tenants of the $2 million home have been there for eight years. That speaks volumes about the urgency this Minister attaches to the growing waiting list."

Mr Heatley notes that Labour has sold or disposed of more than 1,200 state homes since 2002.

"But if this Government was really serious about reducing the waiting list, they'd be exploring other options too, like rent-to-buy and the replacement of high value houses with a greater number of more modest ones.

"In Auckland alone, the Minister could trade the top four state houses worth $6.3 million and buy 16 state houses at average Auckland prices."

Mr Heatley says Labour has previously rejected other measures to reduce the HNZ waiting list.

"National wants to see a tougher line taken with those who repeatedly vandalise HNZ properties and we want to put an end to the situation where households earning more than $100,000 continue to qualify for state homes."

ENDS

© Scoop Media