A Napier city councillor is warning of a housing crisis in the city, with families living in overcrowded conditions while dozens of state houses are vacated.
Maxine Boag says new Housing New Zealand requirements for state housing are draconian and many families who used to be eligible are now not making the cut.
Some Housing New Zealand tenants in Napier have been told to leave their homes as part of the Government's plan to move people into privately-provided social housing so the state properties can be sold or redeveloped.
Ms Boag says as a result some families are being forced to live in overcrowded dwellings.
She says a meeting on Tuesday night heard of 14 children and a large number of adults living in a three-bedroom house in Maraenui next to six empty state houses.
