Minister’s failure to act comes home to roost

new-zealand-labour-party

Wed Jul 13 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Minister’s failure to act comes home to roost

Wednesday, 13 July 2011, 3:42 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Moana Mackey
Housing Spokesperson

13 July 2011

Minister’s failure to act comes home to roost

The Government has today been served an ultimatum—either amend the Charities Act and restore the charitable status of community housing organisations, or seriously damage the very sector the Government is relying on to do the heavy lifting for them in social housing, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Moana Mackey.

“The Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust today resolved not to challenge the High Court decision which strips them of their charitable status, meaning the entire community housing sector will now be liable for millions of dollars in tax, a reality which will cripple the sector.

“Housing Minister Phil Heatley should have acted on this last year when the issue was first brought to his attention. Instead he sat on his hands while the Queenstown trust was forced to spend thousands of dollars on lawyers fighting the decision through the courts – money that should have been spent on housing.

“We don’t need to wait for endless reviews or reports. Swift legislative change is needed,” Moana Mackey said.

“It would be astonishing if the work on this hasn’t already been done given how long the Minister has known about the issue. I would expect the Minister of Housing to have been prepared for this eventuality and have legislation ready to go.

“The Government’s failure to take decisive action last year threatened the viability of a trust which has done incredible work helping families into home ownership in the most expensive housing market in the country. Now their inaction threatens the entire community housing sector.

“Actions speak louder than words. It’s time for the Government to show that their proclaimed support for the community housing sector is more than just hollow rhetoric,” Moana Mackey said.

ENDS

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