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Prisoners will be put to work refurbishing relocated state houses, in a new partnership between the Corrections Department and Housing New Zealand.
Corrections Minister Phil Goff and Housing Minister Maryan Street made the announcement today that about 90 inmates would work on up to 40 houses a year.
A new construction yard will be established at Spring Hill Corrections Facility in Waikato in the next three months.
Old state houses which are moved off sites which are being redeveloped will be shifted to the prison where they will be refurbished by prisoners.
Mr Goff said the initiative would see prisoners learning building trade skills, while refurbishing relocated state houses, stripping the insides and refitting them with new kitchens, vanities, tubs, shelving, aluminium joinery and curtains .
"The project has real benefits for New Zealand.
"At least 90 prisoners at any one time will gain valuable employment skills and NZQA credits that will help their reintegration back into society when released.
"Having inmates working rather than idle makes sense."
Mr Goff said research showed prisoners who found employment on release were less likely to re-offend, leading to safer communities.
The last prison census (2003) identified 52 per cent of prisoners had no formal qualifications and only 45 per cent were in paid work before going to prison.
"By training prisoners in construction trades we are increasing prisoners' chances of obtaining meaningful employment on their release in an area that is in desperate need of skilled people."
The project would also go some way towards addressing the skills shortage in New Zealand, which the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation estimated would reach 13,000 by 2010, he said.
"Housing New Zealand benefits from having the life of older houses extended.
"It is particularly helpful at a time when a tight labour market can mean delays in getting upgrades done on older relocated houses."
Housing New Zealand will retain management of the refurbishment operation, including the transportation of houses and quality checks and will contract Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) as a labour supplier at market rates.
Housing Minister Maryan Street said the high demand for construction trades people and the on-going need for state houses provided an ideal opportunity for the two agencies to work together.
"The partnership will enable inmates to gain qualifications and skills they can use when they are released, which in turn should help address the shortage of skilled construction industry workers. The shortage of skilled tradespeople in the industry also means the initiative will not take jobs away from other New Zealanders."
Ms Street said the Corporation had been recycling older houses for a number of years, following their removal from inner-city development sites.
"It enables Housing New Zealand to deliver quality housing to communities that may otherwise miss out.
"Recycled houses are used as part of its Rural Housing Programme or moved to small towns and communities throughout the country."
Construction of the building yard where the houses would be recycled was to begin, with the first houses set to be on-site by the middle of the year, she said.
- NZPA
