[Sitting date: 02 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:5. Text is subject to correction.]

6. PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister responsible for HNZC : Does he agree with his statement on state houses: “one-third of these houses are in the wrong place or are the wrong size”?

Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister responsible for HNZC): Yes . As recently as just last month Housing New Zealand issued a press release that said: “around one third of our housing stock is in the wrong place, wrong configuration or is mismatched with future demand .”

Phil Twyford : Did he sign off the Housing New Zealand annual report 2014 that says, and I quote, that 96 percent of State houses are in the right places to meet demand and 89 percent have the right number of bedrooms; if not, why is he deliberately trying to mislead the public when he knows the real figures do not support his State house sell-off?

Hon BILL ENGLISH : In response to the member raising that point, I went to find out exactly what was involved. It turned out that Housing New Zealand counted those people who had asked for transfers and subtracted them from 100 percent. So 96 percent of Housing New Zealand clients did not ask for a transfer, and it was from that that Housing New Zealand derived the statement that everything about its 65,000 houses is right. Housing New Zealand has since retracted that statement because it was wrong.

Phil Twyford : I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I asked the Minister whether he signed off the Housing New Zealand—

Mr SPEAKER : Order! The member asked more than one question in his question. If he wants to make progress, he might have another opportunity with a supplementary question.

Jami-Lee Ross : What steps is Housing New Zealand taking to reduce the mismatch of housing stock so that the needs of more vulnerable people and families can be met?

Hon BILL ENGLISH : Housing New Zealand has quite a major task because the houses it owns are misaligned with demand. For instance, the fastest-growing demand is for one and two-bedroom houses. To meet the demand, about 25 percent of Housing New Zealand’s stock should be one and two bedrooms; actually, only 9 percent are one and two bedrooms. However, it has twice as many three-bedroom houses as it needs. So we have people who live on their own currently in three-bedroom houses, sometimes on quite large sections, and it is not appropriate. Housing New Zealand has an ongoing programme of sales, reinvestment, and redevelopment. In the 5 years to 2013-14, it spent around $1 billion on maintenance, purchased or built 1,780 properties, and disposed of 3,179 properties, including some affected by the Canterbury earthquakes. I expect that this programme of sales, reinvestment, and redevelopment will need to accelerate, because with our $18 billion worth of houses we still cannot meet very serious housing need today that should be able to be accommodated. So we are working with the Minister for Social Housing and with Housing New Zealand to speed up the rate of change.

Phil Twyford : Can he explain to the public how selling off one-third of State houses to community housing providers will somehow magically ensure that they become in the right place and of the right size?

Hon BILL ENGLISH : Of course, that is not the policy. The policy involves changes that have been through Parliament to set up the Ministry of Social Development as the purchaser of social housing, which ultimately, for instance, will enable providers and tenants to choose the appropriate house for their characteristics in a much more refined way than happens at the moment. The fact is that Housing New Zealand has a lot of houses that are currently unsuitable to meet demand and it will sell some and will redevelop others, such as the development on the North Shore, where it is converting 11 current State houses into 70 new units. That is all being done by a developer. The Government will keep 20 of those as social houses and the rest will be sold to the market.

Phil Twyford : Is the fact that, as Housing New Zealand says, 96 percent of State houses are in the right places to meet demand and 89 percent have the right number of bedrooms the real reason that the Government has scaled back and now shut down its much, much-hyped Right Size project, which promised to build thousands of new modular bedrooms and larger houses for State house tenants?

Hon BILL ENGLISH : The member’s assertions are wrong, because 96 percent of Housing New Zealand houses are not in the right place and of the right size; in fact, a third of them are the wrong size, in the wrong place, and in poor condition. Secondly, with the Right Size project, my understanding is that it is partially completed, but due to a combination of costs and planning requirements it is finding that the original scope of the project may not be able to be executed, and it is being revised.

Phil Twyford : I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek leave to table a written parliamentary question that is not yet public, which explains how the Government has cut back and shut down the Right Size project.

Mr SPEAKER : Order! The matter has been described. On the basis that it has not been published, I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table this answer to a written parliamentary question. Is there any objection to that being tabled? There is. It will not be tabled.

ENDS

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