Housing crisis, what crisis?
new-zealand-labour-party
Thu Apr 18 2013 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Housing crisis, what crisis?
Thursday, 18 April 2013, 4:09 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Phil
TWYFORD
Housing Spokesperson
18 April 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT
Housing crisis, what crisis?
National’s token response to the Christchurch housing crisis will be little comfort to Cantabrians facing another winter in temporary and substandard housing, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.
“Despite official advice that 7,400 Cantabrians are officially homeless, Housing Minister Nick Smith continues to stick to his line that Christchurch’s housing shortage is ‘a challenge but not a crisis’.
“Nick Smith has no answers of any substance to Christchurch housing challenges: rising rents, a shortage of rental housing, and emergency housing under stress.
“That’s not to mention the 80,000 homes yet to be repaired whose inhabitants will have to move out while the work is being done, or the 15-20,000 construction workers expected over the next two years. There’s also 8000 new homes needed to cope with population increase.
“These numbers, from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment show that the Christchurch housing crisis will get a lot worse before it gets better.
“It needs a bold Government intervention to deliver both temporary and affordable housing but instead National prefers to leave it to a market that has been devastated by losing 11,000 houses to the quake.
“The Government’s response - to deliver 40 houses in the Eastern suburbs on top of only 83 units in the temporary villages - is woefully inadequate.
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“While the Government sits on its hands, thousands of Cantabrians are facing another winter in un-insulated sleep outs, in cars, squashed into someone else’s spare room, or paying hundreds of dollars a week to live in a caravan.
“This is not a case of ‘a little going a long way’. It is a sign that the Government is out of touch, and ill-equipped to deal with an escalating crisis,” Phil Twyford said.
ENDS
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