The National Government’s hands-off approach to the housing crisis over the past seven years has led to New Zealand becoming the most unaffordable place in the world to buy a house, the Green Party said today. A new report by global financial experts Fitch Ratings that includes house price to income ratios shows that New Zealanders aren’t earning enough relative to the sky-rocketing cost of housing, and that the construction sector isn’t building enough houses to meet demand. “This report...

The Government’s failure to build affordable housing, and to ensure rentals are long-term and healthy to live in, has created a ticking time bomb of homelessness as hundreds of thousands of baby boomers arrive at retirement, the Green Party said today. The Salvation Army today released its report Homeless Baby Boomers showing that upwards of 200,000 baby boomers are set to arrive at retirement age, without the traditional safety net of their own home, creating huge uncertainty in their old...

The Government’s failure to fix the Auckland housing crisis will force more families onto the streets, the Green Party said today, with a new Statistics New Zealand report suggesting Auckland households are paying on average 10% more in rent every week than this time last year. The latest Household Economic Survey (Income) shows that median household earnings from wages and salaries have increased just 1.8 percent in the last year, while the amount Auckland households are spending on rent has...

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...

The Green Party is calling on the Government to uphold its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child* and increase the supply of state homes in Auckland, to help house the growing number of homeless families in the city. The call comes after the release of a Salvation Army report which revealed that 47 per cent (568) of people who sought help from the Army and Catholic community services were children, some of whom were...

The Government is allowing Kiwi children to become seriously ill because it refuses to create minimum health and safety standards for rental homes and properly renovate state houses, the Green Party said today. Despite it being spring, stories continue to emerge of New Zealanders becoming sick because of the cold, damp and mouldy state homes they’re forced to live in, with the Tihore-Aue family of Porirua the latest to speak out. “Thousands and thousands of Kiwis are living with black...

A report released today by the IMF shows the Government’s inaction on the housing crisis is creating a significant risk to New Zealand’s economy, the Green Party said today. In its New Zealand Mission: Concluding Report, the IMF calls for more houses to be built in Auckland urgently, and for more tax incentives for housing speculators to be removed – which the Green Party believes should include a proper capital gains tax. “When the IMF is saying you’ve stacked the...