$21 million down the drain

Stuff reports:

The cost of testing and repairing methamphetamine-contaminated state houses leapt by more than $18 million over the past year.

Housing New Zealand said it spent $21m in the year to June 30  checking its properties for meth and cleaning and repairing contaminated properties.

That compared with spending of $2.9m the previous year and just over $700,000 the year before that.

It was revealed last week that almost 2500 state houses across the country – including almost 500 in the Wellington region – were vacant due to a combination of earthquake-strengthening work, meth contamination and “pending sales”.

So $21 million that could have been spent helping more people into social housing had to be spent on testing and cleaning up meth contaminated properties. There should be serious sanctions against those who contaminate state houses with meth.