Over the weekend, an open house was held for three state houses in Ellerslie which are up for sale, with tenders closing 10 April 2025. This is a part of Minister Chris Bishop’s plan to sell state housing in wealthier areas to pay for renewal of the stock. Ōrākei and Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Local Board areas that surround the houses have combined waitlists of over 500 households.

The real estate advert is directed towards land bankers and property investors. The three state houses, which previously housed families, were empty to make way for 8 new state houses before the Government stalled and cancelled hundreds of Kāinga Ora projects.

“Privatisation of state housing land is a bad idea. If we want to live in communities where everyone has a place to call home, we need to build state housing in every community. Selling off land to investors and landbankers will only deepen the housing crisis by reducing the land that could be used to build more state housing,” says Vanessa Cole, spokesperson for Public Housing Futures.

“It’s clear this is a part of a much larger process of cancelling projects that were going to build more state housing and selling the land to developers and investors.

“People in our communities are struggling to afford their rent right now, and others are being forced out of their communities and into cars, garages and parks. This is not the time to be selling state housing land and halting plans to build more state houses,” says Cole

Chris Bishop announced the Kāinga Ora ‘turn-around’ plan last month which involved plans to sell around 800 state houses a year, demolish 700, to pay for the renewal of 1500 homes – effectively a net zero increase in state housing from 2026 for the next 30 years. As part of this plan, Bishop said the Government would sell state housing in wealthier suburbs.

“Ellerslie, where these state houses and land are being sold off, and its surrounding area have over 500 households waiting for stable housing. We need to retain and expand state housing in every suburb, town and city, whether wealthy or not, because there is a need everywhere,” says Cole

“Selling publicly-owned land means that more and more land in our communities goes into the private market where property speculators and investors push up the rents and the cost of housing. State housing is a counter-force to this – providing stable and suitable housing where people can put down roots and age in place,” says Cole.

“Many of these now wealthy suburbs were once working class communities that were gentrified. State housing kept people in their communities, when the market pushed others out.

“Both Labour and National’s solutions for paying for state housing renewals have been to sell publicly-owned land to developers and investors. Privatising land that could be used to build more state housing in the future is bad decision making. It can lead to gentrification in the cases of lower-income communities, and the loss of any remaining truly affordable housing in wealthier communities,” says Cole.

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