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A recent story by Daily Blogger, Martyn Bradbury, raises serious questions about National’s questionable track record around state housing.
National’s List MP, Dr Parmjeet Parmar, has launched a scathing attack on Housing NZ on social media and in a story in the NZ Herald;
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The family was living in a HNZ property that was obviously sub-standard;
The toilet floor had sunk into the ground, making it difficult for Sheraz to use, given his condition.
The shower is also problematic for him as it’s inside a deep bathtub and he needs his wife’s help to use it.
The family has also complained about bugs coming through a hole in the wall of the bathroom.
The hole has been plugged by toilet paper, while a piece of wood was placed to cover the bathroom floor.
Ms Parmar lambasted Housing NZ for “inaction” and called the situation “unbelievable”. Her social media statements were linked to the NZ Herald story, ensuring maximum exposure gained from the Loun family’s dire circumstances.
But Ms Parmar noticeably glossed over a salient point regarding the state of the NZH property;
“Around 8 months of repeated contact and no action.” – Twitter
“The Loun family, two parents and three kids, have been complaining to HNZ about rats, fleas, bugs, an unsafe bathroom and an unsuitable shower at the property for eight months.” – NZ Herald
“… they were chasing them for nearly 8 months, yes nearly 8 months and there was no action…” – Facebook
Eight months?
Fun Fact 1: That suggests this problem has been ongoing since before the election of the current government. In essence, the rot set in (literally!) during National’s term in office.
This brings back memories of Emma-Lita Bourne, who was two years old in 2014, when she perished from a brain haemorrhage resulting from a clot. She had been suffering from a pneumonia-like illness. The toddler and her family had also been living in a sub-standard HNZ property that was cold, damp, had mould on the walls and floor, and the roof leaked.
The coroner, Brandt Shortland, said matter-of-factly;
“I am of the view the condition of the house at the time being cold and damp during the winter months was a contributing factor to Emma-Lita’s health status.”
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Fun Fact 2: Ms Parmar was a Member of Parliament at the time of the Coroner’s findings into Emma-Lita’s death.
In October 2015, Labour’s Phil Twyford introduced the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill to Parliament. That Bill – eventually passed in November 2017 – would create a “warrant of fitness” for rental properties.
Fun Fact 3: Ms Parmar was one of National and ACT Party MPs who voted against the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill. The Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill would have “changed the current law to ensure that every rental home in New Zealand meets minimum standards of heating and insulation“.
Ms Parmar voted against the very thing she was railing against on social media and the Herald.
Fun Fact 4: In 2008, Housing NZ’s state housing stock comprised of 69,000 rental properties.
By 2014 – when Ms Paramar entered Parliament, the number of state houses had dropped to 68,229 – a loss of 771 potential homes for the most needy families and individuals in this country.
By 2016, that number had fallen to 61,600 (with a further 2,700 leased) – a reduction of 7,400 properties.
And by 2017, Housing NZ’s stock of owned or managed properties had fallen to “approximately” 63,000 homes. The 2017 Annual Report does not differentiate the number of owned rental properties from “managed” assets. However, the number is still 1,300 owned/managed properties fewer than the previous year (see above).
National’s policy of selling state housing was obviously proceeding at pace despite Housing NZ posting a loss on the sale of properties of $10,781,000 for the financial year (Annual Report, p108);
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National’s ideological mania for selling state assets was proceeding unchecked, incurring significant losses for the taxpayer.
By 2018, the new Coalition Government had staunched the loss of properties. According to their 2017/18 Annual Report, Housing NZ owned 61,500 properties, with a further 2,500 leased – 64,000 in total and an increase of about a thousand homes.
This is still a far cry from the 69,000 properties owned by Housing NZ when National took office.
Fun Fact 5: Ms Parmar was part of a government that sold/disposed of 7,500 properties.
Fun Fact 6: During her four year tenure in Parliament, Housing NZ lost 5,229 homes from it’s stock
Fun Fact 7: Whilst the National government – of which Ms Parmar was an eagerly participating member – was busily selling off state housing, the waiting list for people needing a home was steadily rising;
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Fun Fact 8: When Ms Parmar entered Parliament in September 2014, there were 4,189 people on Housing NZ’s waiting list. By the time voters threw out the National government in late 2017, that number had risen to 6,182.
Alongside a covert mass-sell-off of state housing, National was also raiding Housing NZ’s coffers.
Fun Fact 9: The government department tasked with looking after some of the most vulnerable, poverty-stricken families and individuals was stripped of “dividends” of $532 million from 2010 to 2015 – over half a billion dollars. The dividends did not include gst and interest payments from Housing NZ to central government;
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2010: $71 million
2011: $68 million
2012: $77 million
2013: $90 million
2014: $108 million
2015: $118 million
Total: $532 million
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At a time when thousands were on a waiting list for a home and entire families were living in over-crowded houses; garages, and cars and vans – National was helping itself to cash that could have alleviated a large measure of homelessness.
(Note: Labour, under the Clark/Cullen leadership, also demanded dividends from Housing NZ. It is nothing to be proud of that Budget surpluses were achieved – in part – off the backs of the poor. At least Labour did not cut taxes, as National did in 2009 and 2010, thereby transferring wealth from the poor/HNZ tenants – to the wealthy/high-income earners.)
Fun Fact 10: Ms Paramar voted for successive National government Budgets which rapaciously extracted millions from Housing NZ.
The Loun family’s HNZ home could have been properly maintained and ongoing faults repaired with that $532 million.
If Ms Parmar wants to vent her anger, she should direct it at herself and her colleagues. It is National (and it’s minor support parties) that are solely to blame for our growing homeless crisis. At a time when New Zealand most needed state houses, National was disposing of them as fast as they thought they could get away with it, as well as bleeding the corporation of it’s money.
So much for John Key promising no further asset sales in February 2014;
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But former Dear Leader Key was not the only one “flexible” with the truth.
Fun Fact 11: A year after entering Parliament, Ms Parmar was caught out attempting to mis-use taxpayer’s money by exploiting an official government housing “roadshow” to promote her personal political profile in the Mt Roskill electorate. The Mt Roskill electorate would shortly be vacated by then-sitting MP, Phil Goff, who was planning to run for mayor of Auckland.
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According to documents released under the OIA, NZ Herald journalists discovered that Housing NZ officials were attempting to cover up for Ms Parmar;
Housing officials tried to hide a National MP’s attempt to use a Government housing roadshow to raise her own public profile, documents show.
The Labour Party said National list MP Parmjeet Parmar was guilty of trying to use taxpayer money for political campaigning, and officials had been caught red-handed trying to cover it up.
Documents released to Labour MP Kris Faafoi revealed Dr Parmar wanted to co-host a meeting for the Government’s HomeStart programme near Mt Roskill, where a by-election will be triggered when current MP Phil Goff runs for the Auckland Mayoralty.
“Parmjeet Parmar has … expressed a keen interest in hosting a roadshow as she is keen to raise local profile in Mt Roskill in case of a by-election,” an email from Housing Minister Nick Smith’s private secretary said.
Supposedly “neutral” civil servants were caught out attempting to suppress Ms Parmar’s plans to use the housing roadshow for her own benefit;
There was also a further twist. The key passages which revealed that Dr Parmar wanted to use the roadshow for campaigning were redacted by housing officials in three other versions of the email released to Labour.
The passages were redacted by officials on the grounds that they were “out of scope” and to preserve “the free and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown”, their employees, or departments.
Fun Fact 12: Despite protestations, Ms Parmar did indeed contest the 2016 by-election when Phil Goff resigned from Parliament. She came second to Labour’s candidate, Michael Woodhouse – a result Ms Parmar richly deserved.
It is unknown if any of the Housing officials who attempted to cover for Ms Parmar were asked to resign. It would be surprising if there were any ensuing job losses from this scandal.
If Ms Parmar wants to use her taxpayer-funded time lambasting Housing NZ, that is her prerogative.
But at the very least, it would be helpful for New Zealanders to understand the fullness of National’s woeful under-performance in the state housing sector and the role Ms Parmar played. At the very least she exhibited no moral courage on behalf on HNZ tenants whilst she was in government.
There is something repellent about a previous government that actively sabotaged and crippled a vital state housing service – only for former Finance minister Bill English to lament about that very same service unable to fulfill it’s duty to house the most vulnerable families in our society;
“Housing Corp has done its best with the policy settings governments have given them over the last twenty or thirty years.
But you’ve just got to drive round the countryside, or round the cities and suburbs to see that it hasn’t always had the best results. So we just want to get more people helping us to solve the problem of serious housing need.”
This is the legacy Ms Parmar shares.
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References
The Daily Blog: I’m sorry, National had the audacity to say WHAT about State Housing?
Parliament: Dr Parmjeet Parmar
Twitter: Parmjeet Parmar – Housing NZ – 4 Jan 2019
Facebook: Parmjeet Parmar – Housing NZ – 3 Jan 2019
NZ Herald: National says HNZ failed the Loun family after ignoring repeated requests to fix safety issues
Fairfax media: Damp state house played part in toddler’s death
Parliament: Healthy Homes Bill – Setting new standards for rental homes
The Daily blog: The MPs who voted against Warrants of Fitness for all rental properties
Housing NZ: Annual Report 2008/09
Housing NZ: Annual Report 2013/14
Housing NZ: Annual Report 2015/16
Housing NZ: Annual Report 2016/17
Housing NZ: Annual Report 2017/18
Ministry of Social Development: Housing Register
Scoop media: State rental housing milked for dividends while tenants die
Radio NZ: Housing NZ readied for sale – Labour
Radio NZ: Housing NZ to pay Crown $118m dividend
NZ Herald: PM – no more SOEs to sell after Genesis
NZ Herald: National MP busted ‘trying to use taxpayer money for political campaigning’
Radio NZ: Govt pushes on with state house sales
Additional
Radio NZ: State housing plan ‘not an asset sale’
Labour Party: Nats still planning to take Housing NZ dividend
Housing NZ: Our statement of performance expectations (deleted from HNZ website)
Previous related blogposts
The Mendacities of Mr Key # 12: No More Asset Sales (Kind of)
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bloody hypocrites the lot of them and she is one of the worst how the f ..k did she get in parliament ?
You get into Parliament via the Colour you like, if you like Blue you vote National, if you like Red you vote Labour, if you like Green you vote Greens, and if you like NZFirst you vote Black.
Only 5-10% of the population would know anything about each Political Parties Policies and generally vote traditionally along historical family lines, influences by friends, ethnicity & religious groups. Also the media has a big part to play, that is why Stephen Joyce was so strategic in the National Party success 2009/12/15 General Elections. Kevin Rudd is trying to get a Royal Commission Enquiry into the political activities and influence of Rupert Murdoch’s Media Empire.
Most New Zealand voters are lazy and do not think logically for themselves IMHO
The big problem we have here in NZ is the cost of construction and the price of building materials, something is inherently wrong with our whole building industry model compared to the efficiencies of Michael Savage’s State House Building Program in the 1930-1960’s.
Hopefully Twyford is sorting it out.
Good luck with Phil sorting it out. National were diabolical with housing but they wanted the housing crisis for political purposed and Labour always fell for their arguments such as thinking allowing a market driven approach to housing while ignoring immigration would work. Labour, Greens and NZ First have their own failed solution.
No point increasing housing supply at great costs, when you don’t stop demand and increase it, on steroids. Last year we allowed in 129 000 migrants for a population of almost 5 million. That is an astonishingly large amount of migrants and a short term and stupid approach which negatively effects everything from housing to hospitals and government immigration policy causing most of the problems!
On top of that we have 150 000 international students and workers with temporary work visas and almost 4 million tourists visiting us each year.
The competition for houses is not some accident, it is a state run exercise of stupidity.
The state houses are not being increased in any real numbers under the new government, in fact they are being demolished and the state house land sold off, so that a few ‘lucky’ state house tenants get a middle class, brand new, state house at extreme cost, instead of renovating ALL of the state house stock within 6 months which would be a better outcome as well as KEEPING state house land.
Kiwibuild should be building houses with the state, employing and training locals with hands on training under registered builders, and training school leavers and unemployed while they build them. Why is not Shane jones and NZ First using the massive amount of provincial investment money to do the above in the provinces? Not only creating jobs, and skills but also houses? Instead it’s the Nat Lite increase infrastructure for business and wages for dole approach also favoured by National which they have unsuccessfully being following for a decade.
Habitat for humanity rely on the actual homeowners to help the build so you don’t need to import in cheap labour when you already have it in NZ in spades and they could be upskilled at the same time!
The state can then benefit from RENTING out more state houses them to increase the state house numbers which the RENTS will pay for over time while solving the housing crisis!
While Labour, Greens and NZ First might be attempting to do something with housing, sadly they are taking their advice from the construction industry giving them free public land and social lobbyists who are clueless!!!!
Also with the outrageous building supply charges, again the commerce commission is doing nothing, our logs/wood/fish/steel are often not processed here into high value goods and in many cases we are virtually giving away our natural assets for little to nothing to multinational companies like sand used in construction.
Parmar blaming HNZ for problems that are provely a direct result of policies made under the last national Government; ditto Melissa Lee blaming RNZ for their recent equipment breakdowns directly caused by National’s funding freeze and refusing to acknowledge it had anything to do with that.
They both say that publicly, with a straight face, and with (seemingly)such a complete cognitive disconnect from their role in the problem. Do National MPs do a degree in Lying? Are they selected for their sociopathic traits? Do they genuinely believe what they’re saying? Or ‘just following orders?”
Following orders probably, Katie. That first news bite’s connection to reality is irrelevant – as is truth. And any attention is better than none – didn’t John Lennon’s murderer say something similar ?
If Parmar cared half a rupee about the faces of human misery and homelessness, then I don’t see how she could turn her back on the great poverty and need of her own people, to come and try to get herself a political career on the backs of NZ’er’s.
We in NZ have previously lead the world on social issues, and we can do it again – but it won’t be any thanks to people like Parmar belatedly climbing onto the elephant.
Both new immigrants.
There might be some stuff here for Parmjeet Parmar to consider. Seriously though, do you think one iota of it would make any sense to her, trigger the tiniest amount of shame or embarrassment?
Wow, that was a hell of a demolition job on Parmar you did there Frank. And the thing is that all of it is 100% true. She can’t argue with any of it because it’s all documented.
It just goes to show the level of hypocrisy from theNational party.
Well researched.
News headlines we’ll never see:
‘National MP opens their own wallet to fix housing safety issue’
‘MPs take salary cut and donate difference to the poor of NZ’
‘Government builds affordable houses (under $100,000) that even single people with no savings can buy’
‘Housing NZ embarks on strategic plan to fix all properties to a liveable and safe standard’.
If Ms Parmar had a shred of ethics or decency she’d be the one apologising to HNZ tenants over the shockingly delapidated state of their homes. National’s sale of state properties, cost cutting and demands for more and more dividends has ended with the inevitable result. For Parmar to now complain about the condition of HNZ homes is the height of hypocrisy. The woman has no shame.
Excellent citizen journalism, Frank!!
Why Kiwibuild will not work and National was negligent in selling off state houses…
Tory council spends £90m buying back the SAME council flats it sold off for a fraction of the price under Right to Buy
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/ampp3d/tory-council-spends-90m-buying-5634579
“Meanwhile rents for remaining council tenants rose with a new alacrity. By 1991 they were 55% higher, relative to average earnings, than they had been 10 years earlier. “If it were not for the right to buy,” conclude Jones and Murie, “the council housing sector as a whole would have generated huge surpluses [from rental income] and the rise in real rents … would not have been necessary.” Or to put it more directly: home ownership was made possible for wealthier council tenants through discounts paid for by their poorer neighbours.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/26/right-to-buy-margaret-thatcher-david-cameron-housing-crisis
Show me the incentives and I’ll show you the outcome.
An Indian friend told me Parmjeet comes from a high-caste family, which is the reason she thinks her shit doesn’t stink. She’s clearly wrong about that.
While the Māori parliamentary seats are entrenched in Aotearoa-New Zealand, people are free to practice what ever religion/belief ect they wish.
Eh? What have Maori seats in parliament got to do with freedom of religion?
This is a matter of freedoms of expression outlined in the preamble of the Treaty of Waitangi, one been about migration and the third been about all residents and citizens, with additions in the Bill of a rights act 1990 and the Electoral Act 1993.
Housing NZ was an asset, it was in surplus.
2010: $71 million
2011: $68 million
2012: $77 million
2013: $90 million
2014: $108 million
2015: $118 million
Total: $532 million
The government didn’t need to fix anything because before all the government intervention things were not broke, they just needed to use a few years of dividends to upgrade the housing, which they could have done cheaply by actually training school leavers to do under the supervision of registered trades people!
Instead they have created a massive current and future liability for low cost housing.
Since when has 532 million been more than 1000 million?
Thanks, Draco. I missed that error. It’s supposed to read “over half a billion dollars”. Change made.
If Parmar is deliberately obfuscating to deliberately mislead the NZ public, then she should not be in the NZ Parliament at all.
If Parmar is indulging in cheap grandstanding ignorant of Housing NZ’s historical issues, then she should not be in the NZ Parliament at all.
If Parmar voted against the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill and is now whinging about homes being unhealthy, she may benefit from having her own health checked out. ASAP.
If Parmar thinks that the voting public is dumb enough to believe that current housing problems are the fault of the current govt, Parmar is plain hopeless – and she should not be in the NZ Parliament.
I think you are mistaken I live in a very strong national area and all my relatives are national supporters, and they do believe all this shit in the Herald and on 1zb, they believe families choose live cars is so they can spend more money on drugs. Most national supporters really are stupid people and around here the woman are the worst.
[“Frank”, please alter your user name. Another poster has incorrectly assigned your comment to Frank Macskasy. -Scarletmod]
Thanks frank……and I’m sure there’s a few women out there that might have something to say about that.
Who the fcuk cares about national voters, male or female? If you’re so concerned for them Peter, give them your money. Or piss off
Parmeer would never stoop to cheap grandstanding would she? Nor her husband. Did they try to stitch up Michael Wood at an electorate meeting?
Parmeer of “NZ’s feeblest John Key parrot is on the brink of a shellacking in Mt Roskill” fame?
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/26-11-2016/nzs-feeblest-john-key-parrot-is-on-the-brink-of-a-shellacking-in-mt-roskill/
Michael Wood goes pretty good and he doesn’t mind a bit of conflict also.
She will be a gone burger at the next election when nationals party ratings drop.
Parmjeet Parma Cheese is a hypocrite, I learned this long ago, also having been to a political meeting she held once in Three Kings in Auckland. She has NO credibility, is corrupt and not worthy to hold her office. Only dumb Kiwis and immigrants who do not background check her vote for such an incompetent idiot.
A few years ago my daughter worked for HNZ in Auckland and she said to me quote, “mum some people are wrecking their state houses”
and I said “really what about the state houses that have been wrecking the people” then I reminded her how our state flat had no carpet was fucken freezing and how she got asthma when she was a baby due to this. We also had no wash house, we had fleas jumping up through the wooden floor boards in summer. We had the tinniest of bathrooms with a toilet in it and we were expected to put a washing machine in this area. when I asked for a transfer racist HNZ said I was adequately housed.
HNZ and many other government agencies and department have bad track records of racist and discriminative practices.
People like Andrew have no idea they haven’t lived in a state house or had to deal with these horrid people.
For whatever reason, public or private, there seems to be a decent percentage of tenants that like to wreck the houses or not pay the rents (state or private). Sadly that 10 – 20% of tenants wrecking houses or refusing to pay rent are evicted and then seem to move on to another house and wreck or not pay rent in another one.
Things like carpet are relatively cheap to replace, so it is crazy that the government are demolishing state houses, when they could instead spend $30k per house ( or cheaper if they do it themselves without using private labour) (against the model of building a brand new house and selling off 2/3 of state house land to pay for it) to revamp the insulation, kitchens and bathrooms and heating and decor. The bones of state houses are normally very good for living and for families with nice gardens.
I think NZ seems to have a higher percentage per capita of rental house wreckers that other countries. The woke lefties seem to be encouraging it, but not understanding it’s taking houses out of circulation and there are cheap and quick options available to them to renovate the state houses and they don’t need to demolish them like the middle class wokies seem to think!
Also amount the poor in state houses, there are also people who should not be getting one aka if you own another house or on a high income.
We had friends who arrived from Europe to settle in NZ as migrants 25 years ago. They got a state house in a top area, even thought they were on salaries in the top 10% of NZ. Then they were offered to buy the state house at a discount. We were shaking our heads, when needy people born in NZ apparently could not get one, even in those days. Also you used to be able to pay a bribe and then be put at the top of the housing corp list if you knew the corrupt housing corp officials, so corruption also plays a part.
national so called houseing crises smells of a ponzi scam there is plenty of houses that nobody can afford
Can’t see the forest for the trees?
Let me remind you-
These are just symptoms of the great Globalisation LIE /Trojan Horse that was sold to us in the 1990’s, out of which sprang the other lies : (“multiculturalism & diversity are good”)
Only Western nations have been targeted.
WHY do all western nations suddenly have a huge “homelessness” problem whilst being filled with 100’s of thousands of 3rd world migrants?
Anyone might suspect that some large powerful hidden entity was trying to destroy us. I think they’ve succeeded.
Now , we even have non-Kiwis as Politicians. Note I said non-Kiwis. They may have residency but their culture is not Kiwi.
The other day a different non- Kiwi Politician was featured in Herald -praising the UN Migrant compact to have endless more migration into NZ. Go figure.
Did you really think things could get better?
Good blog Frank Mac, and it generated some stupid prejudices, also sharp comment. I must be part of the “utter scum” Peter knows, as I grew up in a state house in Taita where less than 5 houses were private housing before the government let tenants buy state houses. Funny thing, in all the years I lived in Taita I never ran into utter scum. I feel lucky to have lived in a socially mixed area that had a great sense of community.
Well said Janio. Well. Said.
Good effort Frank 66 x Responses topical and enlightening with a sprinkling of absolute RWNJ’s Like +100% always enjoy your posts Frank.
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