Wellington Labour MP visits Whanganui, talks to council

Labour Manawatu-Whanganui community outreach adviser Tim Easton (left) brought Rongotai MP Paul Eagle to Whanganui on Friday. Photo / Bevan Conley

A visiting MP has suggested ways Whanganui can head off a housing crisis.

Labour MP for Rongotai Paul Eagle was in town on Friday morning as part of a tour through the lower North Island. He talked to Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall, then had morning tea with Labour supporters.

He discovered that big city housing problems had reached the provinces, with a "squeeze" on rental housing.

He wanted to offer McDouall creative solutions.

One could be for stakeholders such as churches and iwi to get together with compassionate developers and either convert buildings for housing or build new houses on vacant sites.

Another could be for Government to change eligibility for income-related rent subsidies. Under current law they are not available to people using council-provided pensioner housing.

"I think it's because the previous government wanted councils to get out of housing," Eagle said.

Councils are the only provider excluded from the subsidies, which Eagle said was an anomaly that needs correcting.

Also on the relationship between central and local government, Eagle noted Whanganui's past problems with wastewater treatment.

He said the current government was working on "a new-look version of a Ministry of Works". It would have both funding and expertise for districts needing help and advice on treating wastewater - "to avoid getting it wrong".

The new body would have a nationwide overview, and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta is working on it.

Labour Party Manawatū-Whanganui community outreach adviser Tim Easton has brought MPs Carmel Sepuloni, Iain Lees-Galloway and now Paul Eagle to Whanganui. Andrew Little is to visit in October.

"Whanganui is actually getting a really good profile on the national stage in Wellington," he said.

- For more on relationships between central and local government, see today's 24 Hours feature by Jacob McSweeny.