Aucklanders who don't want state housing near their own properties should leave the city, Housing Minister Phil Twyford says.
"If you don't want to have affordable housing or quality density housing in your neighbourhood, you go and live in Pokeno or Dairy Flat," he said at a West Auckland Business Club breakfast, according to NZME.
"This whole issue about nimbyism (not in my backyard)... it's going to come up more and more, because we are going to build a lot of houses."
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The 'nimbys' in question refer to the backlash against state housing being built in Epsom, with Housing New Zealand (HNZ) proposing building a 25-unit complex in the wealthy central Auckland suburb.
It led ACT Party leader David Seymour to send a letter to his constituents warning against mentally ill state housing tenants in his area - which he has since refused to apologise for.
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Epsom residents complained previous HNZ tenants have held orgies and done hard drugs. Others claim past tenants have urinated in public and abused and harassed women.
"I don't apologise and I don't resile from describing the situation accurately," Mr Seymour told The AM Show host Duncan Garner last Wednesday.
"I haven't stigmatised anyone. What I wrote, that people who live in this development may have mental and social health issues and may require additional support, is true."
Mr Twyford says he's not going to "let Epsom off the hook".
"We are not going to engage in kind of state-sponsored gentrification," he said, according to NZME.
The Government is also working with Auckland Council to revitalise west Auckland. Mr Twyford told the crowd 62 housing projects are being considered in the area, including 15 HNZ homes in Avondale.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says $475,000 will also be pumped into expanding The Southern Initiative into the western area, to "provide life skills and jobs in poorer communities".
Newshub.
