Housing New Zealand is defending having a two-bedroom Whangarei house sitting empty for about nine months awaiting repairs.
Neil Adams, Housing New Zealand (HNZ) regional manager, said the situation was sometimes unavoidable when a house was seriously damaged - in this case, by methamphetamine (P) contamination.
Since January this year, out of about 2000 homes HNZ has in Northland, nine - or 0.45 per cent of the stock - need or have needed reinstatement because of methamphetamine contamination.
Mr Adams said a house in Selwyn Ave had been stripped of internal wall cladding and surfaces because of the level of the drug found inside after the last tenants left. After nine months, no other remedial work has been done.
The house would have been rented by HNZ for $265 a week, but instead the repair job will cost upward of $50,000.