Kiwis sleep in cars as 12,000 rooms vacant

More than 500 New Zealanders are living in cars, tents, garages and other makeshift shelters while at least 12,000 spare rooms lie empty in state houses occupied by single people.

All the people in sub-standard accommodation have been accepted on Housing New Zealand's waiting list, but there are no homes for them.

Housing Minister Phil Heatley last week said he expected HNZ to be more "proactive" at identifying tenants who have have more bedrooms than they need.

"Housing New Zealand will actively look at which houses are significantly under-utilised and approach people with reasonable options, as opposed to just stumbling upon them. . . Quite frankly there are a lot of elderly couples who live in big homes who have to mow a quarter-acre section, and if they were given the option, many would like to downsize."

According to figures released by HNZ under the Official Information Act, 11,511 people live alone in state houses with two or more bedrooms.

At the same time there are 502 people living in garages, campgrounds, cars, caravans or on the streets while waiting for a state house including 117 children under five years old.

The worst housing shortage is in South Auckland, although demand also outstrips supply in Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch.

Under government policy, HNZ can't restrict the open-ended tenure rights of existing tenants, unless they breach their tenancy agreement. This means it can't kick out tenants who can afford to move into the private rental sector. Of the country's 68,000 state homes, 9 percent are occupied by tenants who pay market rents.

HNZ can offer people on its waiting list a house in an area that is not where they want to live and can move people down the list if they refuse three times.

A spokesperson said some individuals and couples were living in multi-bedroom state houses because they'd brought up their families there and had stayed on after children moved out. In other cases, people with urgent needs were offered large homes if smaller ones weren't available.

Heatley said no one would be forced into a smaller state house or asked to relocate to another part of the country.

"The option's got to be in the same general area and that they're moving into a house of a decent standard, but as I say, they'll be given the final choice."

The government will instead free up state homes by offering wealthier tenants an opportunity to buy their houses, with the profits spent buying, building or leasing replacement homes. It will spend $15 million a year repairing the rundown housing stock a job that it is estimated will need $2 billion.

Meanwhile, more pressure is going on existing state housing with rising unemployment expected to mean longer waiting lists and more overcrowding. Land supply for building new homes is expected to run out in Auckland City, North Shore and Manukau between 2014 and 2016.

- © Fairfax NZ News