Speaker by Various Artists

Thank you for raising this. It is privatisation without consultation with huge effects on local communities. Lower Hutt loses 70 state houses, with Housing New Zealand reinvesting proceeds from sales where it sees fit, which is not Lower Hutt according to Sharon Girven, Manager Government Relations (Acting), Housing New Zealand in a March letter. There is a waiting list for state housing.

And now we find It's happening again for slightly different reasons in Petone where more units are being bulldozed without any intention to rebuild, while many state units in Epuni are boarded up, slowly, slowly waiting for a decision about earthquake strengthening http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/hutt-news/10087147/Bulldozer-time-for-HNZ-units

I can't help but imagine what the alternative version of this story might look like: Housing New Zealand working in partnership with these communities and the City Council on a process of gradual regeneration and a commitment to ongoing building of quality state housing throughout the city - because we know the benefits of secure tenancy and diversity to the health and well-being of everyone.

And on RadioNZ this morning, the ones in Petone are to be bowled over. If it really is about gentrification and housing segregation rather than upgrading, then all it’s doing is displacing the problem rather than solving it, short of throwing the ’riff-raff’ into a furnace.