According to figures released by Housing New Zealand under the Official Information Act and published in the Sunday Star Times, there are 502 people in New Zealand living in garages, campgrounds, cars, caravans or on the streets. All of these people have been accepted on Housing New Zealand’s waiting list, but there are no homes available for them. At the same time however at least 12,000 spare rooms lie empty in state houses occupied by single people. Housing Minister Phil Heatley said that he expects Housing New Zealand to be more “proactive” at identifying tenants who have have more bedrooms than they need.

Housing New Zealand will actively look at which houses are significantly under-utilized and approach people with reasonable options, as opposed to just stumbling upon them. . . Quite frankly there are a lot of elderly couples who live in big homes who have to mow a quarter-acre section, and if they were given the option, many would like to downsize.

Prior to the election, the National Party (now in government) said it would cap the country’s state houses at present levels of around 67,000, and concentrate on upgrading existing houses, rather than building new homes. Housing New Zealand, as well as lobby group Community Housing Aotearoa believe that increased investment in housing as a core infrastructure component would be a way to protect New Zealand’s economy from the worst affects of the current recession. Such a move would provide jobs in construction, an industry that has seen massive job losses.