State housing in New Zealand

In excess of 31,000 former state houses exist,[2] which are now privately owned after large-scale sell-offs during recent decades.[6] Urban working-class housing in New Zealand in the 19th century was of poor quality, with overcrowding, flimsy construction, little public space, often-polluted water, and lack of facilities for disposal of rubbish or effluent.Local bodies were not interested in enforcing existing regulations, such as minimum street widths, which might have improved housing, or in prosecuting slum landlords.[7] The Liberal Government, first elected in 1890, believed that the slums would cease to be a problem as workers moved to the country to become farmers or small town merchants.A parallel idea of making Government-owned land on the outskirts of cities available for workers to create smallholdings failed to gain traction because the cheap commuter trains which might have transported them to their workplaces were not established, and the Government did not provide loans for building or allow the purchase of freehold land in the areas.The bill passed by 64 votes to 2, despite criticism over the cost of the scheme, the distance the houses would be from workplaces, particularly ports, and the lack of provision for Māori.The initial specification was that houses should cost no more than £300, but this was raised to £350–400, depending on construction materials, by the 1905 Amendment Act.[14] The Government was forced to allow weekly tenancies and to raise the maximum income level[b][15] to attract families to the houses.[21] MP John A. Lee was responsible for the programme (and for the use of cheap Reserve Bank 1% credit), but as he was an undersecretary rather than a minister he had limited authority.For the opening of the first state house in each major city, a group of cabinet ministers repeated this ceremony.[26] The first tenants, David and Mary McGregor, paid £1 10s 3d ($3.03) rent for 12 Fife Lane, about one-third of their £4 7s 9d ($8.78) weekly income.The Government set up transit camps to provide interim accommodation for families waiting for state houses.[29] In 1944, the Department of Native Affairs produced a report on the poor housing conditions of Māori in the Auckland suburb of Panmure.A rare exception to the interspersal policy was in Waiwhetu in Lower Hutt, where state houses were built around a central marae.Roofs were typically hip or gable with a steep pitch (30 degrees), and were clad with concrete or clay tiles, or asbestos-cement sheets.[43] In 1991 the Fourth National Government raised state house rentals to "market levels" amid much controversy.[45][46] In response, in 1996 the Government increased the accommodation supplement to 70 percent, and restored the idea of "social objectives" rather than profit for the Housing Corporation.[48] However protests continued, culminating in the high profile eviction of a SHAC rent striker during the 1999 election campaign.[52] Rents were limited to 25 percent of net household income for tenants earning up to the rate of New Zealand Superannuation.In 2011, in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes Housing New Zealand began a redevelopment process of 156 state properties.[54] The redevelopment process sparked over two years of protests and scores of arrests, including of Mana Party leader Hone Harawira.The Ministry has listed pressures in the private rental market, population growth and decline in home ownership as key factors.[61] In mid-March 2024, Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Finance Minister Nicola Willis ordered Kāinga Ora to end the previous Labour Government's "Sustainable Tenancies Framework" and take disciplinary action against unruly tenants and those with overdue rent.By contrast, ACT Party leader David Seymour and Manurewa-Papakura Ward Councillor Daniel Newman welcomed the eviction of unruly state housing tenants.
Unlike public housing in many other countries, much of the New Zealand state housing of the 20th century was in the form of detached houses similar to the typical Kiwi house. Aerial photograph of a 1947 development in Oranga , Auckland .
13 Patrick Street in Petone was one of the first houses constructed under the 1905 Workers' Dwellings Act
The Dixon Street Flats in Wellington
A 1930s state house layout. This is an early design with the meals recess in the living room; later state house plans moved the meals recess to the kitchen.
State houses at Arapuni , Waikato, showing many of the exterior features typical of 1930s and 1940s state houses.
A layout plan for the Savage Crescent state housing precinct in Palmerston North . The precinct has 245 state houses, all built between 1938 and 1945.
State housing in Corstorphine , Dunedin
Coloured image of two apartment buildings
Two Star Flats in Highbury, Palmerston North , 2020
OrangaAucklandpublic housingNew ZealandKāinga Ora – Homes and Communitiesthe Crowncottagecasement windowsGovernmentleaky homes crisisovercrowdingslum landlordsLiberal GovernmentRichard SeddonWorkers' Dwelling Act in 1905MāoriPetoneBelleknowesNewtownSydenhamReform GovernmentFirst Labour GovernmentCoalition GovernmentNew Zealand TruthWalter NashJohn A. LeeReserve BankJames FletcherFletcher Constructioninner citiesraces should be kept apartBerhamporeDixon Street FlatsWellington12 Fife LaneMiramarMichael Joseph SavagePanmurePākehāWaiwhetuLower HuttNational Party1938 election campaignArapuniPalmerston Northweatherboardcasementfood safeNational GovernmentLabour GovernmentStar FlatsThird Labour GovernmentThird National GovernmentRobert MuldoonPapakaingaFourth Labour GovernmentFourth National Governmentmarketrent strikeFifth Labour GovernmentFifth National GovernmentGlen InnesMana PartyHone HarawiraSixth Labour GovernmentKiwiBuildKāinga OraHousing MinisterChris BishopFinance MinisterNicola WillisGreen PartyTamatha PaulKieran McAnultyACT PartyDavid SeymourManurewaPapakuraTama PotakaCorstorphineDunedinHighbury, Palmerston NorthOtangareiWhangāreiWaterviewŌrākeiWesleyMount RoskillTāmakiMāngereŌtāhuhuŌtaraEnderleyHamiltonFairfieldHamilton EastMelvilleFordlandsRotoruaGisborneMaraenuiNapierMarfellNew PlymouthRoslynWest EndTaitāNaenaeTītahi BayPoriruaPorirua EastCannons CreekWaitangiruaAranuiChristchurchBryndwrShirleyBrockvilleCentennial FlatsHousing in New ZealandSocial welfare in New ZealandMinistry of Business, Innovation and EmploymentHousing New Zealand CorporationState Planning in Porirua (1940-1970)Railways Department's Housing SchemeThe New Zealand HeraldHelen ClarkChristchurch City LibrariesNew Zealand GeographicMinistry for Culture and HeritageHansardSocialist WorkerHousing New ZealandRadio New ZealandNew Zealand Historic Places TrustFirth, Cedric