State Housing Action Incorporated

29 September 2016

Media release:

Court date set for legal challenge to sale of state houses in Tauranga

The 9th of November in the Wellington High Court has been set aside for a hearing of State Housing Action Incorporated’s legal challenge to any government agreement to sell 1124 state houses in Tauranga.

Following SHA Inc. filing papers seeking a judicial review of any sale we have reached agreement with the government for an early hearing of the challenge should the government decide to proceed to sell. Hence the 9th November court date.

We can see no way Minister of State Housing Bill English could legally justify a sale in terms of the statutory objectives of the government’s State Housing Reform Programme.

As part of our agreement the government will inform us of the details of any sale to their preferred buyer, IHC (via the IHC subsidiary Accessible Housing), immediately any announcement of a sale is made. On this basis we will finalise the details of our legal challenge.

We expect the government to announce its intentions regarding a sale in the next two days.

We are deeply dismayed the government is still negotiating to sell state housing when across the country, including Tauranga, there is a housing crisis for families on low incomes.

We believe it is an unconscionable decision driven by ideology.

The legal challenge is just the latest step in the community campaign to stop the government selling state houses.

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