GUEST BLOG: Vanessa Kururangi – There was an Old Woman who lived in a Shoebox, and other State Home stories…

Anyone who is familiar with the layout of Tauranga, will know that Merivale has a high number of tenants in state homes.  It’s an area that is often portrayed unfairly in the media as being a ‘hot spot’ for trouble. Yes, gangs occupy this space. Arguments spill out onto the streets sometimes. Dogs roam (although we mostly know who they belong to – leave them alone and they will go home, wagging their tails behind them). This is not the only area in Tauranga where we have state homes, but it’s a community I know well.

Yes, Merivale has its fair share of negative publicity. It is a small area sitting on the fringe of this glorious city which I am equally proud and ashamed of. Tauranga has everything. Great public amenities, a lively music scene, culturally rich history, spaces for children to explore.  It has beauty in abundance. Yet we ought to be utterly ashamed of how we treat the most vulnerable within our society. They are invisible and silenced without our collective voices.

There are good people here in Merivale. People who are resilient and proud and all embracing. They take you as you come and expect nothing in return besides the acceptance of who they are – loyal, passionate, and intimately connected to their community. I move amongst these people. I have come to know them well and they bring colour and light to my World.

I glance left and right as I approach the area and see the ever increasing line of State homes become more closely cluttered together. I guess everything is in the eye of the beholder. For some, the homes here look tired and need more than just a lick of paint, whereas I see a car in the driveway and think “such and such just got home from nightshift”, and “oh *Alice* must be out of hospital, her windows open”. I see beyond the faded weatherboard to the people who occupy these homes as I go about my daily business. The tapestry of their lives is rich in the stories which shape this gem of a place. I don’t care much for politics, but I care for people. I hear their stories, act on their  words, interpret the chapters that I’m privy to.  We all should. This is a fragile community, threatened by the uncertainty of what the selloff of State Homes actually means for them. It is time that we as a community send a clear message to the groups throwing their hats in the ring, that they should not be acting as scapegoats  for the government.

As I reach the first roundabout in ‘The Vale’,  I recite my own version of an old English nursery rhyme…

“This is the house The State built”.

I pass through the roundabout and wave to a friend as he exits the local corner diary… “This is the whānau , who live in a house The State built”.

I stop at the pedestrian crossing and wait as a young girl crosses the road… “This is a child who belongs to the whānau , that live in a house The State built.”

I know where she’s going, and the rhyme begins to thump in my head as I continue past the street where she’s heading… “This is the school which the child attends, who belongs to the whānau , that live in a house The State built”.

Down through the gully and heading up towards Yatton Park I continue my revised nursery rhyme… “This is the community which supports the school, that the child attends, who belongs to the whānau , that lives in a house The State built”.

By the time I pull into the car park where I work, I’ve turned completely Mother Goose as I utter aloud with determination “We want our happily ever after”!

In the first week of June all interested groups negotiating with the government must have their proposals for purchase submitted. Only two of these four groups have any experience in housing, and this is only for a small sector of those in need. To have your housing management portfolio doubled overnight (or indeed, for all of the state homes in Tauranga to suddenly become your entire portfolio) must surely carry unprecedented risks, which the tenants will ultimately suffer through when business growth happens too fast for these bidders. The “successful” group will call the inevitable transfer  trouble “teething problems”. The tenants will call it other things… homelessness, eviction, loss of income, stress. I don’t think they will call it “teething problems”. We must remind these groups that they are doing Aotearoa/New Zealand a disservice by bidding for these homes, however well intentioned.

I have not much to say about the Iwi Consortiums wanting to get involved in this debacle. I would have thought the best way to house our people would be to build on our own papakainga. Not only that, but why not support and train our rangatahi in the trades? Surveying, building, concrete laying, roofing, plumbing, electrical work. That way we have brand spanking new homes for our people, and our young people will have developed skills which are in hot demand, that they can carry with them where ever life takes them, and they could even mentor the next generation of youth after them. Is this not a sensible and realistic option?

Only the government can provide housing to everyone who needs it. Only the government has the finances and services required to meet the needs and ever increasing demand of housing for all. Only the government can provide long term tenure for our low and middle income families with housing needs. To think otherwise is foolish and naive – and these groups must be reminded of this, and calls to abandon their submissions should be loud and unrelenting.

If this was a children’s story, the Iwi consortium would be the little pig who built his house on sand.

The P.A.C.T pig would be build his house with straw, the little pig from Accessible Properties with sticks. Only our pig of a government can build and maintain healthy, dry, quality homes to keep the wolves from our doors. Again I say “We want our happily ever after”!

The transfer into private hands of low quality, unhealthy  homes in desperate need of intensive makeovers is not good for anyone. Not the tenants, not the groups engaged in negotiation, and certainly not for the future generations of New Zealand.

Approximately one third of our State Homes are up for sale – homes and land which have an estimated value of over 18 billion dollars, and you know what? The agenda of the government to sell our state owned assets is NOT to solve the housing crisis. Let me say that again. The privatisation of state housing will NOT solve the housing crisis.

So what needs to change? Make the government accountable. The argument that HNZ has not been the best landlord is exactly what our government has set people up to believe. HNZ has been beaten to a pulp for years in preparation for this sale. HNZ has been under invested in and the services have been withdrawn as a direct result of government neglect.

I agree that we need to create a Bill of Rights for all tenants. This would ensure that all homes would have to be fit for occupation – safe, dry and well maintained. It would erase 90 day evictions and guarantee  long term tenure for life, or as long as is needed. There would be rent controls in place to protect tenants from having to pay skyrocketing prices just to keep a roof over their heads. All of this could be done within a reasonable time frame and without the displacement of tenants. The  remedial work on homes could begin immediately actually, on the 2,000 odd state homes which are currently tenantless (yes – empty) so they are fit for whānau to move in to! That would be one practical solution to ease the desperate crisis we are facing, wouldn’t it?

I also feel the strong need to acknowledge that empowering our most vulnerable by providing safe, warm, healthy homes is one of many issues which needs to be tackled head on if we are to grow happy, healthy, well adjusted children who has a sense of belonging in their community. We must provide support, and services for the unsheltered. We must discuss a living wage with guaranteed hours so workers know what they have to budget with. We must acknowledge and support those who, for whatever reason, might not fit the so-called criteria required to even apply for a state home. This is what I call ‘The Onion’ effect – where the multi layered assault on the our most vulnerable often brings us to tears.

Tauranga needs your support to ensure state housing remains in the hands of the state. Regardless of where you live in New Zealand, if we allow state housing to be privatised in Tauranga, the rest of the country will be treated like a one legged man in a butt kicking competition… I’m not saying you can’t be successful, I’m just saying the chances of keeping state homes in state hands will decrease dramatically.

By the way, when Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water – where did he go when he fell down and bumped his crown? Oh yes – up Jack got and HOME did trot, as fast as he could caper. Jack had a home to go to. It’s something we all deserve. So we can all live happily ever after.

 

 

Vanessa Kururangi is a State Housing Advocate