Longer wait for State houses

Press, 23 August 1984, Page 3

Longer wait for State houses

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington More people with a “significant need” are on Housing Corporation waiting lists today than at any time during the last six years, according to the Minister of Housing, Mr Goff. He gave detailed Housing Corporation statistics in reply to a series of questions in Parliament yesterday. There had been 12,467 on the waiting lists at June 30, 1984, compared with 11,633 at June 30, 1983. At March 31, 1983, there had been 636 people in the significant need category, compared with 876 at June 30, 1984. By August 17, 1984, the latest date for which figures

were available, there were 12,595 people on State houswaiting lists, Mr Goff He had been advised by the Housing Corporation that because of the situation now, more people in the significant need category would have to wait longer for houses. The most recent average time available that people had to wait had been for six months. In the year to March 31, 1982, 264 State houses had been built and 1465 sold; 328 and 1123 for the 1983 year, respectively; and 496 and 1797 for the 1984 year, respectively. Mr Goff said the result of this trend had been that the capacity of the Housing Corporation to house applicants

for State houses had fallen. In the last three years, the National Government had built 1088 new State houses and sold 4383. Mr Goff also repeated his previous allegation that four days after the National Government had called a snap election on June 14, the then Cabinet had agreed to write to State house tenants offering a downwards review of interest rate charges. He confirmed this in reply to a question by the former Minister of Housing, Mr A. P. Friedlander. This led to a challenge by the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Robert Muldoon, to table in Parliament a copy of the letter to State tenants.