Govt needs to cut the crap and build more houses

Yet another report showing that homeless families are being forced onto the streets or into cars must be the final catalyst for the Government to build the thousands of homes New Zealanders desperately need, the Green Party says.

The Citizens Advice Bureau has today released a report showing that the number of homeless people seeking help has doubled under National and that families are being broken up in order to find accommodation for Mum, Dad and the kids.

“The National Government needs to cut the crap and start building houses,” said Green Party social housing spokesperson Marama Davidson.

“New Zealand’s foremost housing expert Dr Philippa Howden-Chapman this morning slammed the Government’s housing failures, saying it had shifted the responsibility for housing lower income families onto the private sector, but the private sector has no intention of building the houses they need.

“The solution is staggeringly simple – if there aren’t enough affordable homes for people to live in, then the Government must build more homes.

“The National Government is doing all that it can to not build more houses. It’s got three ministers responsible for housing in New Zealand, and yet not one of them has increased the number of homes available to families in need.

“The National Government’s social housing reforms have been a disaster. Its only solutions have been to sell state homes, rather than build new ones, and to palm off responsibility for dealing with desperate families to the community sector.

“What’s needed is for the Government to build thousands of new, compact, sustainable homes in communities where families want to live, which are connected to good services and public transport,” Ms Davidson said.

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