Tauranga state house tenants protest group prepared to march on the Beehive today. Photo / Supplied
Tauranga state house tenants protest group prepared to march on the Beehive today. Photo / Supplied
A group of Tauranga state house tenants and their supporters are marching on Parliament today to protest against the Government's plans to sell off state houses in the city.
Vanessa Kururangi, who co-ordinates the Tauranga branch of the State Housing Action Network (Shan), said that among the eight-strong protest group were six Housing New Zealand tenants.
Ms Kururangi said the six from Gate Pa, Greerton and Merivale would be representing 80 to 100 tenants who attended two recent public meetings in the city.
"We would have loved to have had more tenants attend but trying to fundraise to get down here was a little bit out of our reach, " she said.
Ariana Paretutanganui-Tamati, organiser of Shan, said about 100 tenants were likely to join the hour-long protest march, which begins at noon from Wellington's Civic Square.
That included 12 from Hamilton, two from Invercargill carrying about 500 signatures on a petition to stop the sales, as well as tenants from Gisborne and Auckland. Eight from Auckland's Tamaki Housing Group were also gathering more signatures on the way.
Ms Paretutanganui-Tamati said the protest march was led by tenants and Shan representatives from Tauranga and Invercargill because they were the first regions to be affected.
There are about 1250 state houses in Tauranga, with the Government looking to sell about 1000, and another 280 in Invercargill, she said.
We feel for these people, who are feeling uncertain and scared about what is going to happen to them.
Ms Paretutanganui-Tamati said the Government plans to sell about 8000 state homes or "some $2.8 billion" of publicly owned assets to the private sector. "It's absolutely ludicrous when we have a housing crisis for the Government to sell off these houses.
"State house tenants are some of the most vulnerable people in our society ... They already have very little disposable income and will struggle to compete on the private rental market."
Ms Kururangi, who owns Friends on Fraser Educare, said while she was not a state house tenant herself, quite few of her clients were or had families members who were.
"We feel for these people, who are feeling uncertain and scared about what is going to happen to them. They need moral support and strong advocacy in their fight to get the sales stopped," she said.
Labour Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford, Green Party MP Jan Logie and NZ First MP Ria Bond were to speak outside Parliament today calling on the Government to stop the sales.
The Treasury was due to call for expressions of interest this month from parties who would buy or lease the houses in both cities. In Tauranga, an iwi consortium submitted "a detailed commentary" to the Treasury on September 25 and was due to announce an agreement with an intended tenancy manager this week.
Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett said: "We know that vulnerable New Zealanders do better when services are delivered by local people for local people." additional reporting NZME
