> download Submission to Social Services Committee on the Social Housing Reform Bill (PDF, 86KB)
The Salvation Army overall is supportive of the policy direction offered in this Bill and of the recommendations of the Housing Shareholders’ Advisory Group which have driven these changes. Specifically the Army supports Housing New Zealand having a narrower focus on being a social landlord and provider of affordable good quality rental housing rather than a one stop shop for housing policy and public housing programmes as it has tended to be.
Policy changes since the release of the recommendations of the Housing Shareholders’ Advisory Group have often tended not to follow our expectations over how social housing would be developed and delivered especially by Housing New Zealand. What was promised or at least intimated by policy makers does not materialise on the ground. Such a gap in expectations and experiences is critically important for the individuals and families whom the Army works with and for on a daily basis. Such a gap means literally that people go homeless while state houses remain empty and while the state housing agency is re-structured.