In Fife Lane in Miramar today there will be a significant birthday. The 70th anniversary of the opening of New Zealand’s first state house. Like all political events it seems there was a good deal of spin associated with the opening, but there is no doubt the first Labour government’s flagship policy marked a turning point in New Zealand history, and it is a legacy that all Labour people are proud to celebrate.  

The importance of housing in social policy is sometimes diminished beside the heavyweights of health and education. But there can be no doubt that a warm, healthy home is an enormously important determinant of a person’s well being- including their health status and educational progress.

The legacy of 1937 has been continued by Labour governments ever since. Often having to come in after National led governments have moved away from social housing in one way or another. The 1990s were of course a particularly dark time for social housing.  Market rents and the sale of 13,000 houses pushed families to the limit, creating massive overcrowding and all the health related disasters that go with that. It is interesting to note that the residents of 12 Fife Lane in 1997 at the 60th anniversary were paying three-quaters of their income in rent, compared with one-third in 1937.

Labour has done much in the last eight years to once again turn around the destruction of social housing by the National Party.  The re-introduction of income related rents means that for most tenants they do not pay more than 25% of their income.  More than 7000 homes have been added to the state housing stock with more to come.  Also 1600 ommunity houses hae been developed along with a rural housing programme to improve quality in those areas.

Also Labour is moving to address the issues of the wider housing stock with a greater focus on housing affordability. There is much to do here, and we are hearing some very encouraging noises from the government.

I believe that housing policy should stand at the heart of Labour’s social policy programme going forward. The basis of this should be a policy of neighbourhood development- linking the devleopment of healthy, qualiy housing to the  development of better connected communities. There are already good examples of this such as the Talbot Park community, and it can be expanded.  We also need to support communities to retrofit homes to be energy efficient and healthy, and to involve communities in decisions about development. 

Only Labour has the track record, and the commitment to do this.  John Key’s recent suggestions have been to call for a return to the failed policies of the 1990s.  These are the policies that saw people pushed to the poverty line with soaring rents, and allowed the leaky buildings saga to develop through de-regulation.   The latest Key plan is to advocate state house sales to tenants.   There is simply no way this is affordable, and it is in fact a sad deception.

At the reception today it might pay to reflect that National did not bother to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the opening of 12 Fife Lane when they were in government, and with their borrowing for tax cut approach, there is little to indicate they would treat social housing as any better in the future.