Be very afraid for Kainga Ora

Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, December 20th, 2023 - 19 comments
Categories: chris bishop, housing, national, same old national, Social issues - Tags:

So National’s shock and awe campaign is under way.

And one of the first targets is Kainga Ora.

Under this Government’s usual Te Reo policy it should actually be called Homes and Communities but it appears there is an important exception to this policy.  If the Government is going to attack the entity it appears that it should be known only by its Te Reo name.

I kid you not.  Check this out if you harbour any doubts.

It is actually insane that this Government which has done its best to trash Te Reo should insist on using the Te Reo name of an entity it is attacking.  The lack of respect for the language is palpable.

And the usual rhetoric is being used.  Apparently the Government is very upset about Kainga Ora’s operating deficit and the level of debt.

It has total assets of $45.1 billion and annual expenditure of $2.5b which seems pretty good.  You just have to drive around parts of Auckland to see the level of construction and renewal that is occurring.

Bishop is making a big deal of its debt increasing from $2.7b in 2018 to $12.3b in June of this year.  But during  the same time total assets have increased from $27.5 billion to $45.1 billion.  Sure some of it was capital gains. But a fair chunk of it was improved quality of homes for our most impoverished.

There was also an increase in managed stock.  The number of houses owned or managed by Kainga Ora in 2017 was 63,276.  The figure from the latest annual report is 72,035, an increase of 8,759.  The number of houses constructed by Kainga Ora during this time was over 12,000 and there are a number of further constructions in the pipeline. If each house is worth say $750,000 this represents more than $7.5 billion of extra housing stock alone.

I expect that Bishop’s independent review will conclude there is some sort of crisis and suggest greater use of PPPs in providing social housing as well as a sell off.  And just like during the last National Government Kainga Ora will be expected to pay a dividend.  Rents will go up and housing standards will fall.

There is no crisis.  Repeat after me there is no crisis. But clearly National and Chris Bishop will insist loudly and angrily that there is one.  And then change the settings so that Kainga Ora is starved of capital and starts to divest itself of housing stock.

19 comments on “Be very afraid for Kainga Ora ”

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  1. Gosman 1
    20 December 2023 at 9:12 am

    Bill English is hardly a hard right idealogue. He is unlikely to recommend that Home and Communities – Kainga Ora is going to be sold off.

    • Patricia Bremner 1.1
      20 December 2023 at 10:21 am

      The last National Government sold off housing stock on Bill English's watch.!! So why would we expect different? Bill English proved to be capable of taking subsidies in questionable circumstances.

      Further, I find his close friendship with a certain Paula Bennett, who "Just happens" to have gone to work for a large real estate firm, as the possible PPP they have in mind. Publicise the costs and Privatise the dividends for shareholders all over again. Bayleys gave large donations to National. I don't believe this is all coincidental .imo.

    • mpledger 1.2
      20 December 2023 at 10:54 am

      I guess not, he'll just recommend choking it to death as he tried before…

      https://www.greens.org.nz/greens-call-bill-english-stop-disciplining-housing-new-zealand

    • bwaghorn 1.3
      20 December 2023 at 11:17 am

      Sold off

      Outsourced will be there plan I'm picking

    • adam 1.4
      20 December 2023 at 11:18 am

      Bill English is hardly a hard right idealogue.

      Maybe not, but he should clean his own shoes.

    • newsense 1.5
      20 December 2023 at 12:08 pm

      He did propose in his last term that sow crate apartments should be built because that’s what foreigners are used to. Which makes me much less than confident,

    • Incognito 1.6
      20 December 2023 at 9:27 pm

      Stop creating straw men and lift your game.

  2. Kat 2
    20 December 2023 at 9:59 am

    Kainga Ora won't be just sold off….it will be dismantled and dispersed……any profits will be privatised and the losses socialised.

    If English is such an important language that it must come first then some people are going to have to learn about semantics, context and the meaning of words.

    • Gosman 2.1
      20 December 2023 at 10:17 am

      "If English is such an important language that it must come first then some people are going to have to learn about semantics, context and the meaning of words."

      Ehh???

      What has that got to do with anything?

      • Kat 2.1.1
        20 December 2023 at 12:20 pm

        "He is unlikely to recommend that Home and Communities – Kainga Ora is going to be sold off…………………….."

        Who said anything about Kainga Ora being sold off……

      • Incognito 2.1.2
        20 December 2023 at 9:29 pm

        Read the Post and connect your brain cells to connect the dots. Lift your game.

  3. Pat 3
    20 December 2023 at 11:25 am

    "There is no crisis. Repeat after me there is no crisis."

    Sadly there is, but it is not restricted to Kainga Ora and its debt ratios….it is in the absurd level of valuation of property in relation to incomes.

  4. AB 4
    20 December 2023 at 12:29 pm

    Every state house is a lost profit-making opportunity for a private landlord.
    Well – not quite “every” – some people will never afford market rents, but clearly National’s landlord/real estate backers see KO intruding into ‘their’ territory and they want it back.

  5. SPC 5
    20 December 2023 at 1:17 pm

    So someone called English is going to be judge of the one of two Maori named entities left and then propose some re-organisation without Maori name/names?

    Talk about no subtlety whatsoever.

    Now what about Te Puni Kokiri, a group moving forward together. will it be renamed after reorganisation too?

    It includes Maori housing …

  6. Sanctuary 6
    20 December 2023 at 2:33 pm

    "…But clearly National and Chris Bishop will insist loudly and angrily that there is one. …"

    And the complacent idiots of our MSM will report the story entirely in terms of the political optics and how Bishop gives them a hard on/gets them all wet with his macho posturing.

    • tc 6.1
      21 December 2023 at 8:47 am

      Totally rather than do their job they'll get played as always.

      But then do any of these so called journalists posses the numerical literacy to do anything other than nod or offer patsy questions so the pollies can parrot the talking points.

      Rinse repeat of the same manufactured non crises in ACC when team key begun their plunder.

      Wake up NZ the haters and wreckers are in session and they've backers to reward.

      • Macro 6.1.1
        21 December 2023 at 8:59 am

        Rinse repeat of the same manufactured non crises in ACC when team key begun their plunder.

        QFT.

        And as a direct result of that, we waved good bye to our loved ones. crying

        • tc 6.1.1.1
          21 December 2023 at 12:45 pm

          Wonder how many more are now considering that move with their cancellation of infrastructure projects, torching the RMA etc.

          They just burnt many houses down with no plan in sight for what comes next, why would you hang around if that's the work you make a living from.

  7. Louis 7
    20 December 2023 at 11:35 pm

    "19,900 homes completed in the six year Government Build Programme. Another 6,000 still under construction."

    https://twitter.com/ClintVSmith/status/1732131356367564877