Thousands of families will not have new landlords after the Government stopped the sale of up to 2500 state houses in Christchurch. Mr Twyford said the announcement fulfilled a promise in the Government’s 100-day programme to stop the sell-off of state houses. It was part of the previous government’s plan to diversify ownership of social housing, which was meant to increase the overall social housing stock — with mixed results. Attempts to find buyers for 348 state houses in Invercargill and 249 in Horowhenua failed, but a buyer was found for 1124 in Tauranga. As part of the Christchurch deal, the winning bidder would have had to build 150 social houses in Christchurch, and the 2500 houses would remain as social housing and could not be sold unless the Government agreed.

Source: Otago Daily Times December 20, 2017 19:07 UTC