Housing NZ CE visiting Maraenui

Media release
For immediate release

Housing New Zealand’s Chief Executive Glen Sowry is going to be in Napier on Tuesday to see what is happening to Maraenui, where over 100 Housing New Zealand homes have been emptied since the government’s Social housing policy changed in 2011. He will be meeting with representatives from the Napier City Council, the police and local HNZ staff.

The empty houses have attracted vandals who break windows and steal guttering, as well as teenage parties, runaway children and rubbish which has left the suburb looking “trashed”, according to resident Michelle Ratima. “It’s like no one cares about Maraenui, HNZ told the world that nobody wants to live there, and their emptying of the houses is rapidly turning it into a slum.”

“Before the government changed their policy and started moving people out of the houses, Maraenui was a strong, connected community where neighbours knew and supported each other. We felt safe in our streets, and we took pride in our suburb and kept an eye on our kids as they walked to school, or played in the park.

“Now the empty houses mean there’s no ‘eyes on the street’ watching over the neighbourhood, and they are attracting mischief, and making our neighbourhood unsafe and ugly,” she said.

“It’s great that Mr Sowry is coming to see for himself the damage that has been done, but why isn’t he coming to talk to the residents?” Michelle said. “We haven’t been asked or consulted or even warned about these huge upheavals. How would he like it if every second house on his street was emptied and trashed and his friends and family moved out?”

60 of the houses are apparently earthquake-prone, but residents are sceptical about this and see it as being used as an excuse to empty the houses and sell the land to developers.

Most of the remaining 40 houses are “totally habitable”, Michelle said, and “needy families could move in there today.”

“We know families living in garages and doubled or tripled up in three bedroom homes since the changes in eligibility criteria meant they couldn’t get a state house - yet there are houses sitting empty and attracting crime,” she said.

Tu Tangata Maraenui, the community group which marched on Parliament in November to protest against the housing situation, has been invited to speak to the Social Services committee on 10th April about the petition they presented to parliament. “We’re going to tell them about how the locals feel about the shambles that has been created by their social housing policy, and the hardship low income families are experiencing,” Michelle said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media