Leading doctor Lance O'Sullivan starts Facebook page calling for healthier state housing

Dr Lance O'Sullivan is hoping to pressure the Government into improving the health of Housing NZ homes. Photo/Nick Reed.

The Government is sanctioning disease and poverty by renting out state homes in "appalling third world conditions", former New Zealander of the Year Dr Lance O'Sullivan says.

He said he recently moved from Northland to Auckland where a 28-year-old solo mother of two boys came in to see him.

The mother's 4-year-old son was "chronically unwell with asthma and respiratory problems" and believed it was being caused by her Housing New Zealand home.

When O'Sullivan asked to see the home, he said he found water dripping inside the bedrooms where the two boys sleep while the whole house was cold, damp and had mould on the walls and ceilings.

The mother had asked Housing NZ to fix the problem many times over the nine years she had lived there, and they had only been once to wipe the mould off.

"But they didn't fix the problem. There's still water dripping inside the house, making her kids sick," O'Sullivan said.

"She told them what the problem was. She told them they needed to fix the gutters. But they said they didn't have the equipment. They said they would be back – and they never have."

While the Labour-led Government had publicly declared it introduced measures to force landlords to ensure rental homes meet minimum health standards, this had not yet made an impact on the ground and vulnerable children were still getting sick.

To help tackle the problem, Dr O'Sullivan said he had set up a Facebook page, called #Myhousemakesmesick, so other people can tell their story to the Minister of Housing, Phil Twyford.

"From that page people can email the Minister of Housing and tell him to fix their homes."

He said he can't fix sick children as a doctor if the Government doesn't fix their homes.

"It is wrong to have state sanctioned diseases of poverty affecting children of New Zealand."

Facebook user Natasha Larry posted a message on the new page saying she had got the flu many times in just one year after moving into a Housing NZ home.

Maree Campbell wrote: "Dr Lance is right, how can he or any other health professional fix these children when they are walking right back into what is making them sick in the first place".

Rawhiti Anaru, meanwhile, wrote she had lived in a Housing NZ home for 18 years and that when she saw things needed fixing, she did not wait for a manager to keep her home "healthy, clean and maintained".

"I did it myself. Some people need to take responsibility, especially when your family are involved [and] being at risk."

O'Sullivan has previously expressed a desire to become the nation's Health Minister.