Nearly 3000 state houses are empty while thousands of families are on the waiting list for homes, Labour says.
Housing spokeswoman Annette King has released official figures showing Housing New Zealand has 989 vacant houses ready to be let, another 973 are vacant awaiting development, 501 are empty and up for sale and 354 are under repair.
"All up, 2858 state houses are not being used," she said.
"There are 4096 people on HNZ's waiting list, more than 2400 are listed as priority A or B - you don't have to be a genius to work out what should happen."
Ms King says HNZ is far too slow getting people into houses and Housing Minister Phil Heatley isn't giving it any direction.
"It's sitting paralysed like a possum in the headlights, Phil Heatley has no idea what he's doing."
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