Mt Albert residents who feared an 80-unit Housing NZ scheme in their neighbourhood have been told of much smaller plans.

A big state-owned site in Auckland once earmarked for social and affordable housing is being carved up for sale.

If the likes of the Salvation Army cannot afford to buy cut-price state houses, it seems improbable that any other social services agency is in a position to do so.

This week, Finance Minister Bill English was dealt a blow by the Salvation Army, which rejected his suggestion it buy Housing New Zealand stock.

The Salvation Army says it felt pressured into carrying out expensive, time-consuming research on buying unwanted state houses because the Government repeatedly referred to the charity as a likely buyer.

Bill English says he is not surprised that the Salvation Army has decided against buying state houses from the Government.

The Salvation Army has decided against buying state homes off the Government, a blow the Labour Party says is "hugely embarrassing".

Former high-flying multibillion-dollar developer Nigel McKenna is working on Auckland's big state house overhaul.

The country's most expensive state house is being sold to local iwi, almost three years after a tenant was turfed out for benefit fraud.

If you want a state house with a view, forget it. Beautiful views are banned in a draft new Government policy. Double garages and decks are out, too.

Former MP Hone Harawira has been called in to try to ease tensions in Glen Innes after a rock was thrown at a removal man trying to move a state house out of the area last year.

Housing New Zealand has told MPs this morning it could not build state houses any faster even if it was given a blank cheque.

A "ruckus" caused by a 60-year-old state house tenant who refused to move has helped to postpone new housing development in part of Glen Innes.

Try as it might, National has been unable to reframe this particular debate, writes John Armstrong. It's handicapped by the sheer complexity of its housing plan.

Anti-social behaviour at an inner-city apartment block partly owned by Housing NZ has led to 42 complaints, two assaults and a near-fatal stabbing in two years.

Ngati Whatua state house tenant Apihai Pihema supports returning state housing to iwi in principle - but he worries that the rents could go so high that he might have to leave.

A charity tagged as a likely buyer of state houses says it is reviewing its involvement unless it can get either more capital from the Govt or a very low price for the houses.

It is difficult to erase the suspicion that the social housing policy is motivated by ideology as much as anything else, writes John Armstrong.

John Key grew up in a state house in Christchurch, and many residents of his old street say they're disappointed at his plans for state houses.

National’s plan to sell off state houses will drive up rents for all renters, Labour leader Andrew Little says.

In his first major speech of the year, John Key is expected to outline what his government will do with the supply of social housing stock.

The strength of Nick Smith's language in his savaging of the RMA prompted immediate concern in the environmental lobby he was trying to manufacture a crisis where there wasn't one.

Auckland Council is targeting its 1400 pensioner housing tenants to help solve its financial squeeze through an average 20 per cent rent increase.

The number of people sleeping rough in Auckland's streets and parks has more than doubled as the city's housing crisis deepens.

The Government's Auckland Housing Accord aims to relieve the city's desperate housing shortage with 39,000 new homes, but only 350 residences have so far been built.

Mt Albert residents have upped the ante in their opposition to Housing New Zealand's plans for a Special Housing Area in their suburb.

Residents of a quiet no-exit Meadowbank street where homes are worth up to $1.9 million are angry Housing New Zealand plans to "slap down" 14 units in their midst.

Housing New Zealand has quietly dumped a $377 million programme to add new bedrooms to existing state houses and build hundreds of new homes on subdivided sections.

Hundreds of new homes will be developed on Housing Corporation land in some Auckland suburbs, including Avondale, New Lynn and South Auckland.