state housing

State housing

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  New Zealand's first state house was formally opened on 18 September 1937. But the government has provided rental housing for New Zealanders for more than a century. Explore the history of this country's various state housing schemes and their contribution to the New Zealand way of life.

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• Page 2 – The first state house

  Prime Minister Savage helped out at the opening of the Labour government's first state house in 1937 at 12 Fife Lane, Miramar, Wellington

• Page 3 – The state steps in and out

  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

• Page 4 – Designing communities

  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

• Page 5 – Building families

  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

• Page 6 – Making ends meet

  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.

• Page 7 – State house style

  The design of state houses has been fodder for armchair and professional critics since the beginning. Detractors slagged the first workers' dwellings for being 'too swell' and

• Page 8 – Outside the mainstream

  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

• Page 9 – Timeline

  Key events in the development of state housing

• Page 10 – Further information

  This web feature was written by Ben Schrader and produced by the NZHistory.net.nz team.LinksMichael Joseph Savage biography (Dictionary of New Zealand Biography)Fletcher