Housing changes outlined | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Housing Minister Phil Heatley says private landlords will have a greater role to play in social housing as the ministry implements changes in the sector.

Speaking to the Rotorua Property Investors' Association at the Millennium Hotel on Tuesday night, Heatley said the Government's goal was to free up state houses for those who really needed them by helping people applying for state houses to consider other options, including home ownership and renting from private landlords and community organisations such as the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity.

"We want to increase the number of social houses in New Zealand and we also want other organisations to get into this area and help needy people."

Heatley said going into partnership with non-government groups could spread the taxpayers' dollars further.

"Rather than spending more on state housing, we want to put that money into social housing organisations. Together we can deliver more."

Improving the advice given to people on the waiting list should also push more people into the private sector.

The minister cited figures showing, of one group of applicants, talking through their options resulted in 37 per cent taking themselves off the waiting list to rent privately and 1 per cent deciding to invest in their own homes.

"You are part of the solution," he said.

Housing New Zealand intends to replace 10,000 homes in the next 10 years, creating opportunities for property investors as it sells off some of its 70,000 houses to buy properties that better fit the needs of applicants.

"We have 27,000 houses that are the wrong type or in the wrong place or in the wrong condition. We have a whole lot of three-bedroom properties we don't need, that we can sell to raise money for more one and two-bedroom places for the increasing number of people who live singly or four and-five bedroom homes for larger families in places like Auckland."

Heatley said he was also looking at subdividing many of the quarter-acre sections on which state houses stood, saying this would create income for Housing New Zealand, opportunities for investors and a good way to create a healthier mixture of state housing, private rental and private ownership in areas heavily populated by social housing tenants.

Investors at the meeting were positive about the more concrete responsibilities and unlawful acts set out in the amended legislation, but some felt landlords should have more access to government information to help track down ex-tenants who owed them money, saying any damages or fines imposed under the act were not much help if the landlord could not find the person concerned.