KEY POINTS:
Poor families in desperate need of accommodation are waiting almost half a year for a state house.
Phil Heatley, National's housing spokesman, said families most in need were waiting 176 days, or 25 weeks, for a state house, well up on the figure of 123 days six years ago.
"The gap has widened considerably and this Government is utterly failing families with high and moderate needs for a state house," he said.
People in moderate need of a state house were waiting 305 days, more than double the 133 days they were waiting in 2001, Mr Heatley said. Families assessed as being in low need were waiting 324 days compared to 71 days in 2001, he said.
Some people had waited years for a state house.
"The longest wait for a person has grown from 13 months in December 2001 to five years and eight months," he said.
Mr Heatley demanded information on the waiting lists from Housing Minister Chris Carter in the House and said the answers staggered him.
"There are more at-risk high-need and low-need families waiting for a place than ever before. Worryingly, the lines are now longer for those in most need. Put simply, there are more needy people queuing longer for a state house," he said.
He blamed the Government but also those people who held onto a state house when they no longer needed it.
"Some households are sitting pretty on $80,000 to $90,000 after-tax annual incomes and have been exposed for secret subletting arrangements, multiple undeclared boarders and living in properties worth millions of dollars," he said.
He accused the Government of failing to manage the $1.3 billion state house portfolio.
Mr Carter said the Government had spent $2 billion on state housing and built 7000 places.
"This made up for the 13,000 houses the [National] government sold," he said.
Existing state tenants applying for transfers also appeared on the waiting list along with new applicants, which inflated the numbers, he said. Around 40 per cent of people on the waiting list were already in a state house, he said.
The Government has already asked Housing NZ Corp to explore whether it should retain expensive properties as they become vacant.
Late last year, Mr Carter said, of the 66,000 state-owned properties, 104 were worth more than $700,000. The value was in the land and some properties could be sold, he said.
Last year's budget also allocated money for 2000 new state houses to be built within three years.
Tenant numbers
Of every 140 state house tenants:
90 get rental assistance because of their low income.
25 are single parent households.
20 are superannuitants aged over 65.
4 had four or more children under the age of 17.
1 had a person with a disability that required their home to be modified.
