The changing profile of state house tenants
March 4th, 2013 at 11:00 am by David FarrarHamish Rutherford reports:
Housing New Zealand is planning to ditch three-bedroom homes on quarter-acre sections in favour of one-bedroom units.
Details of the department’s plan to reconfigure its portfolio are revealed in a briefing for new Housing Minister Nick Smith.
The owner of more than $15 billion worth of state housing, the government department openly admits that barely half its portfolio properly meets the needs of its tenants.
While 43 per cent of its 69,000 homes are three bedroom houses, only 16 per cent of its “priority demand” requires a property of that size. And only 10 per cent of its portfolio is one-bedroom units, meeting 33 per cent of its highest demand.
I suspect when most state houses were purchased or built the typical tenants were working families with several kids. Today I’d guess that most tenants are not in work and have smaller families.
This is one of the problems of attempting to deliver housing assistance through state houses rather than through accommodation subsidies. If the profile of those most in need changes over time, you end up with a mismatch.
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March 4th, 2013 at 11:07 am
Why on earth are we building one bedroom units? Surely an adult on his or her own can find their own accommodation with financial assistance in their benefits. I thought state houses were for families?
However I am all for getting rid of those big sections with old cars on the unkempt lawns and no gardens.
Vote:March 4th, 2013 at 11:08 am
“Today I’d guess that most tenants are not in work and have smaller families.” – I’d say thats a pretty useless guess. Smaller by the standards of the baby boomers maybe.
Vote:March 4th, 2013 at 11:20 am
Not overly sure about the “smaller families” thing although my guess is most tenancies are for one less adult than earlier times.
What is obvious now is the lack of need for quarter acre sections so the tenants can grow vegetables, fruit and raise fowl for the table.
Vote:March 4th, 2013 at 11:30 am
MT Tinman
Vote:Quarter acre section to grow Electric Puha and an extra bedroom for the Hydroponic garden.
March 4th, 2013 at 11:58 am
My guess (and that is all it is) is that this reflects an ageing population. More elderly singles/couples that do not need a “house” and cant afford market rent.
Also a fair number of dysfuctional adults out there of all ages that cant live with someone else and only needs a one bedroom place.
Vote:March 4th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
It would be cheaper to buy singles tidy vans that can holds a mattress and have supervised parking lots for them with communual showers,cafes etc…..I would have been cool with that in younger days…
Vote:March 4th, 2013 at 12:51 pm
State housing will become even more important if the Government succumbs to pressure to kick mom and pop landlords in the teeth to try and sort house prices. There seem to be few if any businesses in the rental housing market (main exception – the student accommodation market), perhaps more will be created if the cost of new houses can be brought down and the returns on rental housing become higher.
Vote:March 4th, 2013 at 9:38 pm
“Piles of left boots” springs to mind.
Didn’t a certain A Smith stumble upon a solution to this supply demand mismatch problem?
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