Social Housing Reform Bill passed into law

Growing a strong and vibrant community housing sector that understands local needs is good for vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says.

The Social Housing Reform (Transactions Mandate) Bill passed into law today.

As a Crown entity, Housing New Zealand (HNZ) can be directed to implement a Government policy, but cannot be directed to implement policy in a specific way. This means it would be difficult for the Government to direct HNZ to transfer specific properties.

The Government is committed to transferring between 1,000-2,000 properties to registered Community Housing Providers this year.

“This Bill ensures the Government can be clear and transparent in transferring HNZ properties to the community sector. Combined with the guaranteed income stream through the Income Related Rent Subsidy, transferring properties gives them capital and an asset that they can use to further grow.

“Fundamentally, this is about improving the lives of some of our most vulnerable New Zealanders by increasing the supply of social housing available for those with pressing needs.”

Ministerial authority can only be used to transfer properties to meet the objectives of the Social Housing Reform Programme, which are clearly set out in the legislation and were announced by the Prime Minister in January.

The Bill also clarifies that the current offer-back provisions in the public Works Act 1981 have never applied to land held by HNZ. An unrelated provision included confirms that the Crown’s authority to administer Crown land is held under the Housing Act 1955.

This Bill does not change the first right of refusal rights that iwi may have over some HNZ properties.

“We have been engaging with iwi in Invercargill and Tauranga since last year, to ensure rights of first refusal are appropriately recognised,” Mrs Bennett says.

“This Bill will help enable the reforms that are needed to ensure more people who need housing support can access it, alongside social services that meet other needs.

“We are making changes to ensure the social housing system is aspirational, not generational.”