KEY POINTS:
More than 7000 state housing tenants are taking boarders but the Government says it has no problem with this because it allows families to stay together.
National housing spokesman Phil Heatley said today there were 7064 state housing tenants renting extra rooms to paying boarders, 1740 of whom were not family members.
Mr Heatley said this was happening "when there are thousands of large families on the waiting list struggling in cramped conditions".
But Mr Carter said it had been a long-standing practice for Housing New Zealand to allow its tenants to take boarders.
That had also happened during the nine years National was in government, he said.
There were good reasons for allowing state housing tenants to take in boarders because "many of those people are young people starting in work or older people living with families," Mr Carter said.
"We provide this provision so that people can have a normal family life."
Mr Heatley said a tenant in Mangere had five paying boarders when the waiting list in Mangere had 280 families categorised as having "severe and significant housing needs" on it.
State house tenants could charge boarders what they wanted, even if it was over the rent they paid , he said.
"What's more they don't have to pay extra rent to Housing New Zealand until they have three or more boarders.
"Does the minister think it's right to profit from their spare rooms while large families languish on the waiting list?"
Mr Carter told Parliament that state housing tenants were allowed two boarders.
"For every boarder over that they pay a market rent assessed as part of their income."
Mr Heatley said Mr Carter and HNZ's Tom Bridgman had promised in 2005 they were going to review the boarder problem. At that time there were 6931 "state boarding houses" and now two years later there were 7064.
The Government could at least "shift" the 1700 state house tenants who had non-family boarders into smaller houses, the National MP said.
Mr Carter said the Government did not have a problem with state housing tenants taking boarders.
He said 303 tenants had been moved into smaller state homes so far this year "thus saving the taxpayer $300 million in releasing new housing opportunities for people on the waiting list".
He said there would not be a waiting list had National not sold 13,000 state homes while it was in power.
Mr Carter's spokesman said HNZ knew of three cases in Mangere where tenants had five boarders. In one case, the five adult boarders were children of the tenant. In the other two cases, the tenants each had four of their adult children living with them plus one other boarder.
- NZPA
