KEY POINTS:
The Government was accused in Parliament yesterday of failing to look after low-income families who want state houses.
National's housing spokesman, Phil Heatley, said some Housing New Zealand tenants earned more than $100,000 after tax while the waiting list was close to 10,000.
Mr Heatley said the average after-tax household income was around $50,000, and low-income families on the waiting list earned a lot less than that.
He produced figures showing state house tenants paying market rents included a Glen Innes couple with an after-tax income of $90,116, a Panmure couple who earned $95,212 after tax and a Nelson household with an after- tax income of $127,348. There was also an individual in New Plymouth with an after-tax income of $89,544.
"How did it ever get to the point where a Labour Government will house tenants earning $80,000, $90,000 and $100,000 a year after tax ... when there are so many needy families languishing on the waiting list?" he asked.
Education Minister Chris Carter, answering on behalf of Housing Minister Maryan Street, said it was the previous National government that established market rents for state houses and put high-income families in them.
"I wish they would buy a house and move on, and I wish we still had the 13,000 houses National hocked off to their developer mates - then we wouldn't have a waiting list at all," he said.
"We've got to this point because that member and his party filled our houses up with people who could afford to pay market rents."
Mr Carter said 99 per cent of new state house tenants paid income-related rents, and were on low incomes.
- NZPA
