Asked to respond to concerns about overseas providers, Compass general manager Bernadette Pinnell told the Herald: "The types of services are not different. The tenants in New Zealand and the tenants in Australia have very similar profiles and characteristics and needs.
"A good tenancy management company provides the same services irrespective of whether it's in Australia or in New Zealand."
All of Compass' employees would be New Zealanders, the company would not be run for profit, and any income would be re-invested in community housing.
"That's an important distinction that needs to be made," Dr Pinnell said. "We can only speak for our company but our focus is on providing tenancy management services."
Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett told a conference of community housing groups yesterday that they should not depend on government grants to grow.
Instead, they needed to become more like big businesses, form consortiums, and possibly seek financing from banks.
Compass group manager assets Donald Proctor said New Zealand's community housing sector was made up of "very good but very small" organisations and could benefit from a bigger player.
"A lot of them haven't had the experience of dealing with consortia of developers and financiers and we do have some of that experience."
Compass managed 4200 properties in New South Wales and Queensland - more than the entire community housing sector in New Zealand.
Dr Pinnell said: "It's a little bit like running a dairy and running a supermarket. It's not just a matter of having more stock, it's about having more systems and processes and training and professionalisation."
Another Australian company, Horizon Housing, has also expressed interest in New Zealand's state houses and may buy up to 500 properties.
The Labour Party has warned that under-fire prison operator Serco is also interested, but Ms Bennett ruled this out yesterday.
Turning down house offer risky
Tenants who turn down state houses could be struck off the waiting list under changes being developed by the Government.
Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett said many applicants had good reasons for turning down homes, including a wish to live away from an abusive ex-partner or to keep a child in school.
But some tenants had declined state houses because they did not like the birds chirping in the trees or because the back yard would not fit a trampoline.
Under the proposed rule changes, a person who turned down a state house without good reason would be given a "stand-down order" for several weeks - compared to six to 12 months in overseas jurisdictions.
Labour's housing spokesman Phil Twyford said the minister had made a career out of attacking New Zealand's most vulnerable people.
"We know that the real reason people are turning down houses is because they're worried that cold, damp, dirty houses are killing their children."
He agreed that applicants should have good reasons for rejecting state houses, but he said Ms Bennett's examples were not representative.
Ms Bennett also wanted to widen the potential areas where tenants might be offered a state house. For example, people on a waiting list in Wellington should be prepared to move to the Hutt Valley if there were vacancies there.
