State Housing in New Zealand

State Housing in New Zealand

Early state housing

In 1905 Prime Minister Richard Seddon passed the Workers Dwellings Act and the first state houses were built for inner-city workers to rent. Seddon thought New Zealanders could enjoy a higher standard of living if the state took over from 'greedy' city landlords. Several hundred homes were built but the rents were too high for many and the programme folded in 1919.

New suburbs

Growing demand for housing after World War I led the Railways Department to set up a factory at Frankton, Hamilton, building pre-cut houses from local timber. Whole suburbs were built of railway cottages at Frankton and at Moera, Lower Hutt. The scheme stopped when the government decided private companies could build the houses at less expense.

Lenient state lending in the 1920s - workers could borrow 95 percent of the cost of a house - caused a suburban building boom. This receded with the Great Depression of the 1930s.

1935

The first Labour government wanted to provide homes and stability for people left jobless after the Depression. They loaned money for private house purchases and built houses for the public to rent. The 5,000^th statehouse was built in 1939. Architects provided 400 different designs, and no two homes were exactly alike.

Post war

After World War II, 10,000 state houses a year were being built. Whole suburbs were laid out, shops and amenities erected and open space landscaped.

Materials shortages led the government to import 500 pre-cut houses from Austria. They also launched a 'group building' scheme, underwriting new houses built to government designs. The result was multi-units made of cheaper materials like fibrolite, which lacked privacy.

In the early 1950s, the National government let state tenants buy their homes, offered state loans, and subsidised the building industry to bring house prices down. New housing was built in higher densities, with mass state housing areas emerging in south Auckland and Porirua, north of Wellington.

1970s - today
The National government sold state houses in the 1990s but kept a reduced state house building programme. Only people on welfare could rent a state home, at full market rent, with accommodation subsidies through the welfare system. Labour reinstated income-related rents in1999, whereby eligible tenants paid no more than 25 percent of theirincome in rent.

The Housing Corporation was formed in 1974 following an inquiry intostate housing. The Corporation built in inner-city areas and developed different housing types, such as cluster housing.

The latest in New Zealand's social housing lineage is Housing New Zealand Corporation, formed in2001.

Timeline

1905: Liberal government's Workers' Dwellings Act passed

1906: First workers' dwellings completed in Petone, Wellington; but scheme not a success, with only 126 houses built by 1910

1912–28: Reform government sells off remaining workers' dwellings, and promotes private home-ownership through State Advances Corporation (SAC) loans

1935: Election of first Labour government

1936: Government launches major state housing scheme; Department of Housing Construction established

1937: First families move into new state houses, including the McGregors at 12 Fife Lane, Miramar, Wellington

1942–44: State house construction virtually ceases due to wartime shortages

1940: Completion of first multi-unit state flats, Centennial Flats in Berhampore, Wellington

1943: Completion of 10-storey Dixon Street Flats in Wellington

1947: Opening of Symonds Street Flats and Greys Avenue Flats in Auckland

1948: Maori housing scheme established, managed by SAC and Department of Maori Affairs

1952: 12 Fife Lane bought by McGregor family

1949: Election of National government, which in 1950s promotes sale of state houses to tenants

1974: Housing Corporation of New Zealand formed, by merging SAC and Housing Division of Ministry of Works

1978: 100,000th state house completed in Christchurch

1983: 12 Fife Lane repurchased by Housing Corporation in recognition of its historic significance

1991: New National government announces gradual introduction of full market rents for state house tenants

1999: New Labour-led government reintroduces income-related rents and moratorium on state house sales

2001: Housing New Zealand Corporation established

2005: Centenary of state housing in New Zealand