Dear Minister of Finance - Bill English,

A) Have you read the legislation outlining the obligations of Housing NZ (HNZ)?

Your desire to shift the social housing responsibility away from HNZ to the private sector appears to fail to acknowledge or meet the legally binding functions and responsibilities of HNZ.

These are well described in the Housing Corporation Act 1974.

B) Exactly how does selling down a significant portion of HNZs social housing stock meet the legally binding requirement on HNZ?

"To give effect to the Crown’s social objectives BY PROVIDING HOUSING..."

C) Exactly how does selling down a significant portion of HNZs social housing stock meet HNZs legally binding requirement to "be an organisation that:
1) EXHIBITS A SENSE OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates"?

D) Has HNZ met its legally binding requirements to;

"3) OPERATE WITH GOOD FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT and STEWARDSHIP, and efficiently and effectively manages its assets and liabilities and the Crown’s investment"?

E) Has HNZ failed to adhere to its own mission statement?

By stating the private sector can do a better job at providing social housing, you are implying that HNZ has failed in its duty to adhere to its own mission statement. The Corporation’s mission statement is as follows;
"The Corporation provides access to decent homes, helping New Zealanders manage their own circumstances and contribute to community life."

F) What legal mandate does the National party have to sell a large portion of HNZs stock which has been built up and owned by the NZ public inter generationally?

G) Why was the proposed HNZ stock selldown not highlighted by the National government prior to the recent election?

H) Why was the proposed HNZ stock sell down not clearly spelled out in the National parties policy on housing prior to the election?

I) Assuming you do sell a portion of HNZ stock please explain exactly how you intend to measure the performance of the private sectors provision of social housing on an ongoing basis?

We all know the private sector won't do a good job because they must put profit before people - at any cost to the people - and the people we are talking about that will bear the brunt of private sectors profit focus will be those who need social housing.

You may also like to read the briefings made in 2011 and 2013 to the incoming Ministers for Housing, http://www.hnzc.co.nz/our-publications/b...
if you do look at these publicly available online you will notice a large amount of information in those briefings have been "withheld to protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by officials".

J) What type of officials are being 'protected' by withholding information in those briefings?

And
K) why does the publicly owned largest single stakeholder in NZs residential property market (HNZ) need such secrecy?

L) Do you intend to engage any third parties to 'broker' the sale of HNZ stock and if so whom will that be and on what financial basis will they be engaged precisely?

This issue is of importance to the nation because Housing NZs asset base is a multi Billion dollar 'honeypot' as you are fully aware.

There is the opportunity for the private sector to profit confidentially and massively from the initial historic event of a selldown, to the tune of hundreds of millions, or even Billions of dollars at the publics expense whilst cloaking crucial information from the unsuspecting public with the tried and true 'Cloak of confidentiality'.

This modus of operandi has been used to successfully hide the truth from the public, by politicians, countless times and has made a mockery of the Official Information Act.

Perhaps you may want to review your and the Prime Ministers intentions for HNZ before this selldown enters the history books as just another political blunder that drove the needy and the public purse into further poverty with your name on it.

Yours Faithfully
Kieran Trass