To tackle the housing crisis in the late 1930s the Labour government created the Department of Housing Construction. With the help of Fletcher Construction, 3445 state houses were constructed in three years.
Self-contained communities are being built on the outskirts of our cities. This project at Trentham is designed so that the houses will surround a park.
The cover of the 1985 record State House Kid by Last Man Down shows singer/songwriter Ross Mullins, in an unkempt 1950s school uniform, standing in front of burnt-out state house.
For 100 years the state has provided rental homes for tens of thousands of New Zealanders unable to afford a home of their own. State housing has made a huge contribution to our national life.
Having to move to a house where there are no steps is quite a common occurrence in Wellington when children arrive. This time it's a shift to a new state house...
The National government introduced full market rents in 1991 to reduce the state role in housing provision. From the start, public debate over state housing policy in New Zealand has centred on this very issue: how far should governments intervene in the housing market.
Community has many different meanings. People might live in a particular community, but have little contact with their neighbours, preferring instead to pursue their social life elsewhere. Others in the same street might be best friends and spend hours chewing the fat over a back fence
An essential aim of state housing was to provide suburban homes for families, a place where children could grow up in safe and spacious surroundings, away from the dangers of the inner city. This guided state housing policy from the beginning.
For low-paid workers and beneficiaries, making ends meet has always been a constant struggle. Life can be even tougher for those without a home of their own.
The design of state houses has been fodder for armchair and professional critics since the beginning. Detractors slagged the first workers' dwellings for bei'too swell' and called for simpler shelters. Half a century later the complaint was the exact opposite
Many of us associate the beginning of state housing with the hipped-roof cottages built by the first Labour government of the 1930s and 40s. But the origin of state housing has much earlier roots.
David and Mary McGregor standing outside 12 Fife Lane in 1978. They had bought the house in 1952, at a time when the National government was keen to promote the sale of state houses to tenants.
Val Wilson outside the Dixon Street Flats in Wellington. In 1992 Val received a government Woman Alone Benefit of $134 per week, out of which she paid $49 per week in rent. With the introduction of full market rents, this was to increase to $140 per week by 1995.
The main thrust of the first Labour government's state housing programme was directed towards the construction of single-unit suburban homes, which were considered more suitable for families.
This Labour election poster from 1938 shows the eviction of a working-class family from a dilapidated, inner-city dwelling. It suggests that under National rule such events would become commonplace, whereas under Labour families would be rehoused in modern and suburban state houses.
After an initial surge in 1951/52, sales of state houses declined before stabilising in mid-decade. Following Labour's election victory in 1957 they dropped steeply before rising briefly in the early 1960s with the return of National.
One beneficiary of the first Labour government's housing policy was the Fleury family of Dunedin. After living in a cramped, two-bedroom cottage on The Flat, Nell Fleury thought she had entered 'heaven' when she moved uphill to her four-bedroom state house in Corstorphine
A group of under-fives hold an animated meeting in Jutland Street, Naenae, c. 1945. Note the woman (possibly a mother of one or more of the children) watching the 'performance' through the window of the flat-roofed house.
Two boys ride their bikes around a 'cluster' state-house development in Hornby, Christchurch, in 1978. Safety issues are raised by the absence of helmets; something that could result in a fine today.
John and Ngametua Ruta and their children stand alongside the Minister of Housing, Hon Mark Gosche, at the opening of their modified state house in Auckland in 2001
Multi-unit housing constructed in the 1950s and 60s was criticised for its use of low-cost materials and uniformity of design. This image of Porirua East was used in Housing Corporation publicity material in the late 1970s as an example to avoid in future housing schemes.
During the 1950s and 60s governments tried to reduce the cost of state housing by building more multi-unit dwellings and using cheaper materials, such as fibrolite
The state houses of the 1930s and 40s remain a distinctive feature of most towns and cities, immediately recognisable by their cottage-style windows and hipped, tiled roofs
In this plan for the Maori housing settlement at Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt (c. 1947), houses are clustered around a marae, with the Waiwhetu Stream in the foreground. The complex subsequently built closely resembled this plan.
Virtually indistinguishable from private dwellings built in the early 20th century, these two-storey semi-detached houses in Coromandel Street, Newtown, Wellington, were constructed as part of the Liberal government's workers' dwellings scheme.
One of Housing New Zealand's recent developments is this $9.9 million, 51-unit apartment complex in Hillsborough Road, Lynfield, Auckland. Designed mainly for older tenants, it was opened in March 2003.
