Housing New Zealand dividends could save children’s lives



26 August 2015 MEDIA STATEMENT

Housing New Zealand dividends could save children’s lives

The Government could show moral leadership and invest just a third of the dividend it demands from Housing New Zealand each year to save Kiwi kids from mouldy, cold and unliveable homes, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says.

“Over the past 12 months the National Government took $90million from Housing New Zealand even as children were suffering from illnesses caused by the state of disrepair their homes are in.

“Letters released to us under the Official Information Act show the Government has repeatedly pressured HNZ for dividends, including one demand for an immediate payment that was $6 million higher than anticipated.

“Since coming into Government, seven letters have been sent to HNZ relating to dividends, six of them asking for more money or money faster.

“This is a disgrace at a time when children like Emma-Lita Bourne are dying in homes because of damp and cold while others such as Iriah Marama are suffering from respiratory diseases caused by black mould.

“For just $35 million, all of the state housing stock could be brought up to a liveable standard, but instead the Government takes almost three times that in dividends each year.

“Under the last Labour Government, capital contributions back to HNZ were larger than the dividends paid. This Government has instead taken more than $600 million in dividends while putting just $132 million into building new houses and repairs.

“I doubt the state house the Prime Minister grew up in had black mould or water running down its windows or was colder than the winter air outside. The average state house needs just $600 worth of repairs but his Government is pocketing $1500 from each of them instead.

“No one should be profiting from houses which are unfit for our children to live in. John Key is doing exactly that,” Andrew Little says.

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