Economic development through home ownership is one of the Social Well Being Strategies coordinated and driven by Hamilton City Council in alliance with key government and non government agencies. Te Runanga o Kirikiriroa is the lead agency for this strategy which is cemented in a firm belief that home ownership does provide an economic base for families and a need to arrest the continuing decline in numbers of families who actually own their own home. Trying to drive and promote this strategy in the wake of house sale booms where prices are escalating out of reach of low to medium income families and the recent recession climate has had limitations. For many families the realization of home ownership and indeed affordable accommodation has been reliant on the roll out of robust central government policy.

Almost 72 years to the day after the opening of the first state house in Miramar the Government is offering state house tenants the opportunity to achieve home ownership through purchase of Housing NZ homes in the launch of its “Welcome Home” policy on 15 September 2009.
This provides an opportunity to reflect on the history of “State Housing” as it came to be known to many of us and one has to understand the living conditions of our grandparent’s generation, especially in the years following the great depression and lead up to the war, to fully appreciate why the opening of the first state house in 1937 was heralded as a major milestone of socialist achievement for Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage and the first

Labour Government that swept to power in 1935. Taking into account the impact of the current economic climate on medium to low income families and increasing demand for

Housing NZ Corporation homes the government is attempting to maintain some balance as an affordable rental provider and meet the demands of families that are in a position to purchase the homes that they currently occupy. The “healthy homes” debate has gained momentum in recent years so we are yet to see whether there will be an attempt to sell off the older homes under this policy which in itself is not a negative focus after all they are likely to be more affordable and it addresses the state being a responsible landlord question. Although we understand that there is a housing stock replacement programme that we will need to comment on later policies such as welcome home threaten the requirement to retain and replenish the “State house” stock.