How many bad houses in our city?

IN THE week that journalists were voted the least trusted profession, they managed to fight back with a few hits, most notably turning the blowtorch on Housing New Zealand in the wake of the death of 2-year-old Emma-Lita Bourne.

Coroner Brand Shortland set the ball rolling, stating the toddler's state house was "unhealthy" - cold and damp - and that it had contributed to her death from a respiratory infection.

After that, the mould started to come out of the woodwork, with a succession of stories about people living in similarly unhealthy homes, courtesy of the state's official housing provider - including one about Soesa Tovo, who had heart and lung problems, and died in a cold, damp state house despite repeated pleas from his family to be moved.

The stories made shameful reading and were enough to have the Government scrambling to find some heating, some insulation and a quick fix.

Two years ago, the Government tested a housing warrant of fitness initiative on state houses.

Two years later, we are still waiting for the results. Meanwhile, according to Otago University research, 40,000 child hospital admissions each year are for respiratory conditions to which poor housing has contributed.

And, of course, the Government is busy offloading Housing NZ stock - which is one way to get rid of a costly and embarrassing problem.

A news story last week revealed Housing NZ paid an investment banker $1.6 million to help it sell state houses. Could that money not have been used to improve a few of them?

Many of these stories emanated from Auckland but they made me wonder about the condition of Wanganui's state houses.

As a cold, wet winter looms, how many of them are substandard ... and is Housing NZ doing anything about them?