State housing policy attacked

Press, 27 November 1982, Page 6

State housing policy attacked

Parliamentary reporter . The inner part of Christchurch had suffered from the Government’s, housing' policies on ah, unprecedented scale, said the member of Parliament for - Christchurch Central, Mr G. W. R. Palmer. In Christchurch, in the 12 months to March, 1982, 49 houses , had been built or bought to add to ; the State rental list, he said. However, 247 had been sold, giving a net reduction of 198 units. The Government had created a crisis, in the private rental market because no-one could afford the high rents, and: a crisis in the /State Cental market, because it had sold more houses than ithadbuilt. ; Two years ago; in Christchurch, the Housing Corporation had been able to house about’2oo tenants every three .months, but now it could 'house'.'fewer than 100, Mr Palmer said. . In the three months ended September, 1982, only 96 tenants could be housed. Several reports by the National Housing Comhtiis- 1

sion had remarked on the chronic shortage of lowrental, accommodation, but the Government had done nothing about the situation, Mr Palmer said. In Christchurch, there 1 were twice as many people at the top of the list who were in urgent heed of accommodation than there had been a year ago, which was one of the new developments in the housing crisis. The size of the list however, had stayed, about the same. There were 822 applicants at September, 1982, but 1069 had. been purged so that the Minister of Housing could ■ keep the list down to a size that was manageable politically, hesaid. ■'The Government was doing nothing about the severe housing crisis in Christchurch, and had failed to 'grapple with a serious social problem. - The census figures showed that between. 1976 and 1981, the number of units in Christchurch in the private rental market had decreased 296, Mr Palmer said.