Brian Rudman: Chance for Key to open a door to poor

Prime Minister John Key dines out on being king of the pragmatists. To prove it, he could rethink his elitist views on who should live in Housing New Zealand's vast new town development at the former Hobsonville Air Base in his electorate.

This week, planning commissioners approved the first stage of this 3000-home exercise in sensible town planning - one which, in the words of earlier Housing NZ publicity, will realise its vision "to set new benchmarks for sustainable urban development in New Zealand, and build a community that is available to people from all sectors of society".

If that sounds too dreadfully wishy-washily liberal for the new regime to stomach ... it is. These brave words linger on Housing NZ's website, but Mr Key made it plain during the election that if the vociferous neighbours of the proposed development who opposed it elected him to power, he would see to it that their nightmare would end.

No sooner said than done. After the election he reassured his electors that now he was in power, they could stop buying rottweilers.

"People from all sectors of society" would no longer be welcome to the brave new world of Hobsonville. Specifically, the 500 or so state rental homes that were to be pepper-potted through the development would go. In other words, the airbase development was now to be just another commercial exercise in housing development - albeit possibly the biggest in the land.

Our pragmatist supreme doesn't seem to see the irony of the government department charged with providing state rentals now driving a development committed to keeping the needy out.

Housing New Zealand must be feeling a bit Alice in Wonderland too. Its legislated objectives are "to give effect to the Crown's social objectives by providing housing and services related to housing ... [and] to ensure that the Minister of Housing receives appropriate policy advice".

In 2002, the previous Government agreed to Housing New Zealand developing the old airbase in an integrated fashion to avoid the old ghetto developments of the past. The new suburb would have a cross-section of people, schools, jobs and recreational facilities.

The Hobsonville Land Company was subsequently set up as a subsidiary company of the housing agency to realise this. Its first fact sheet announced "the aim is a development that is accessible and affordable to the entire community - young and old, singles and families, rich and poor - and one that at the same time responds to the urban growth issues facing Auckland today".

But now that the poor are out, is there any longer a place for a state agency whose prime function is to provide state rentals for those in need?

Sean Bignell, chief executive of Hobsonville Land Company, says yes. The Government is "still very keen to provide opportunities for affordable home ownership". He says an announcement on this is imminent.

Under the original proposal, 500 "affordable" self-owned homes were to be included in the development. Mr Bignell says whether this figure will change "hasn't been determined".

Asked why the state organisation continues to be involved, he says, "For the Government, the delivery of affordable housing opportunities is still an important part of the housing strategy."

He referred to its new Gateway Housing initiative. In a speech to the Australasian Housing Institute last week, Housing Minister Phil Heatley described this as a "shared ownership scheme with supporting financing arrangements" which "will allow first-home buyers to build houses on Housing New Zealand or Crown-owned land" and give them "the option to buy the land after 10 years".

In the same speech, Mr Heatley expressed his concern about the 10,00-strong waiting list for state rentals "that represents many families in desperate need" and "which may grow in significant numbers during this time of economic pressure".

A true pragmatist might take note of Mr Heatley's concerns, factor in the fact that a resource consent has just been granted for a plot of land in his electorate, purpose-built for this need, and just get on with it. But somehow I don't think Mr Key's pragmatism extends that far.