The Worst Landlord in the Country

State housing in New Zealand is a mess and it is killing our fellow Kiwis. Poor maintenance and lack of investment has resulted in this embarrassing situation. But first a bit of history.

The concept of state housing was introduced to the country in the 1930s by the first Labour government led by Michael Joseph Savage. The idea was to provide housing for those that were living in inner city "slums" who, despite a nationalisation of the Mortgage Corporation offering low cost mortgages, were unable to purchase their own homes and move out of the slums. The government wanted to not just provide housing, but also wanted to stimulate jobs and manufacturing. The homes were to be made for NZ products as much as possible. All the houses were built in new suburbs as the government felt it would be too expensive to build in the inner city and they believed that children were best raised in suburban sections rather than the inner city streets. Most of the houses were detached dwellings with enough land for the tenants to grow vegetables and/or own some animals. So the point was to help people and create spaces for families. It was a helping hand for people.

Fast forward to today and the state houses are no longer the helping hand they were created to be. This current government have sold off a lot of the state housing stock. Of those that remain, many are old and not up to any housing standard.

In July this year Housing Minister Nick Smith announced changes to the Residential Tenancies Act that would strengthen the act and force landlords to install ceiling and underfloor insulation. They have 4 years to get this done. Failure to do so will see the landlord prosecuted under the act.

Then this wek, after a series of stories on the poor condition of some state houses and after Labour suggested the dividend the government received from Housing NZ should be re-invested in improving state housing John Key ridiculously tried to lay the blame on Labour's doorstep saying, "It is a joke for the Labour Party to come here and talk about this. They ran the housing stock down. They should hang their heads in shame". What is disappointing about this comment from John Key is that it is a red herring. Both major parties are equally guilty of the problem we now have with the state housing. Both have been in power over the last 3 decades and none of them have done much (if anything) to improve the standards of our state housing. What John Key did was try and score political points as if this was a game. Well, Mr Key, this isn't a game. This is serious and needs addressing NOW!!! New Zealanders are suffering because of years of no investment in the state housing stock.

The reality is that too many of our state houses are cold, leaky, mouldy, old and in desperate need of either serious investment in renovation or demolishing completely. To try and attribute blame avoids the issue altogether.

Housing New Zealand, and by proxy the government, is the worst landlord in the country. The standard of the state housing stock is disgusting. Far too many have been poorly maintained. Yes, Housing NZ have some new housing stock but there are still many of its housing stock that was built in the 1950s. It has no insulation and walking into one of the houses feels like walking into a mouldy version of a timewarp.

Nick Smith's announcement last month got me wondering. If the government is strengthening the rules in order to force landlords to insulate and plans to prosecute serious breaches then surely Housing NZ should be top of the list? State houses run by Housing NZ are the classic example of poorly maintained homes with serious breaches. That is why we are hearing more tragic stories of people dying as a result of where they live. Our state housing stock is slowly killing our fellow Kiwis. It is that simple. It is also an embarrassing reflection on our governments (successive governments over numbers of years) as our representatives that this has been allowed to happen.

So what should be done? Well, as much as John Key mightn't like it, what Andrew Little suggests makes a lot of sense. Re-investment into our state housing needs to take place. Selling off the housing stock is not the solution. There will always need to be state owned housing to help those most in need. But just because they are in need doesn't mean they should be treated this poorly. They deserve decent housing as much as they rest of us so money spent in insulation and heating is worthwhile.

In fact, there is a growing body of research that shows that an investment in making our homes warmer and drier results in a multitude of savings in the long term including saving on sick days taken, less pressure put on our health system which means the system is freed up for the more needy cases.

I know change can take place. I also know that it can be done across the political spectrum. It has happened before on this very issue when National and the Greens worked together to bring to fruition the Greens warm housing policy. Unfortunately, whilst many home owners took up the offer, not as many landlords did and worse, the government's own stock was only fractionally done. Shame really.

So, come on John Key. Come on National. Stop trying to score political points. Start fixing the problem now. It isn't important whose to blame. What is important is getting rid of the mould and dampness in our homes. Show the way for private landlords. We as a society can turn this problem around. It's time you led the way.