A right-wing think tank says large-scale government housing ownership is problematic, wasteful and not the most effective way to help people into homes. Photo: RNZ / Bradley Ambrose
Selling state homes and giving tenants vouchers to spend on rent could help more vulnerable people and save taxpayers money, a right-wing think tank says.
The New Zealand Initiative report, 'Owning Less to Achieve More' said large-scale government housing ownership was problematic, wasteful and not the most effective way to help people into homes.
"On the evidence, it is plausible that both taxpayers and tenants could be better off if the government were less dominant as a landlord and if its subsidies empowered tenants by giving them a greater choice of landlord," said New Zealand Initiative senior fellow Dr Bryce Wilkinson.
The report said "on indicative calculations" state housing agency Kāinga Ora's maintenance costs were nearly twice that of a private landlord, and it had not been good at managing rent debt or dealing with troublesome tenants.
Kāinga Ora could sell houses to community and iwi organisations and land to private developers, and offer tenants "vouchers" or subsidies to give them more choice in their home, Wilkinson said.
New Zealand Initiative senior fellow Dr Bryce Wilkinson. Photo: RNZ / Kate Gudsell
Too many people were missing out on homes, he said, pointing to the 20,000-strong public housing waitlist.
"Some of the people who can't get into a Kāinga Ora home are in more parlous need than some of the people who've been in the homes for a while and their circumstances have improved, but they're sort of staying there," he said.
"So it's difficult when government's a landlord to actually turn things over."
Wilkinson did not say how many homes Kāinga Ora should sell, or if it should get rid of all of them: "We haven't proposed scales, we're raising it as a question for public debate as to just how many houses it's best for Kāinga Ora to own."
Land owned by Kāinga Ora but sitting empty could be sold to private developers to boost housing supply, the report said.
There was no guarantee those developers would build the sort of houses Kāinga Ora tenants or those on the wait list needed or could afford, but that wasn't the point, Wilkinson said.
"The more people who buy new housing, which isn't central housing, are leaving the houses they are occupying vacant for other uses.
"The best way of getting rents down is to have more houses built and let the issue of who occupies which houses sort itself out by your usual gravity processes."
Government-issued vouchers for people to spend on rent would give people more choice, said Wilkinson.
"Instead of having to reside in a Kāinga Ora home in order to get the assistance, you can get the assistance whether you're in a housing association, or in rental accommodation with an iwi department, or with a private landlord, or with a charitable not-for-profit organisation, or whatever," he said.
That way the government could help people without having to own the houses, and give money where it was most needed, said Wilkinson.
"And that person uses it to find the best trade-off for themselves. So if they've got extra expenses for children with disabilities or something, they might choose a cheaper house at less rental and use the cash to help pay for their education or medical services or vice versa.
"Giving people choice helps empower them."
In May last year, an independent review panel headed up by Sir Bill English found a raft of problems with Kāinga Ora, and early this year Housing Minister Chris Bishop revealed a "turnaround plan" for the agency.
That included stabilising the number of houses it owned at about 78,000 by next year.
In June, Kāinga Ora revealed it was halting hundreds of developments which would have delivered nearly 3500 homes, and selling a fifth of its vacant land.
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