National’s housing crisis drives need for emergency housing

new-zealand-labour-party

Tue Nov 08 2016 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

National’s housing crisis drives need for emergency housing

Tuesday, 8 November 2016, 9:07 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Phil Twyford.
MP for Te Atatū
Housing Spokesperson

MEDIA STATEMENT

7 November 2016

National’s belated copying of Labour’s emergency housing policy still fails to address the causes of the housing crisis, says Labour Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“Today’s announcements won’t solve National’s housing crisis. Every week, there’s a new announcement from National and all they show is how bad they’ve let things get.

“National has announced funding for an extra 1,400 emergency housing places, exactly what Labour announced back in July, but it needs to adopt Labour’s full plan. This announcement is an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff but the real solution is to stop pushing people off the cliff in the first place.

“The heart of the housing crisis is a lack of affordable housing and state houses. There’s no substitute for building houses. That’s why Labour will build 100,000 affordable homes for first homebuyers to purchase as well as thousands more state houses, and lock speculators out of the market.

“The Cross Party Inquiry on Homelessness found an extra 15-25,000 state houses are needed so 41,000 homeless Kiwis can all have proper housing. The massive increase in homelessness is a direct result of National’s negligent mismanagement of the housing crisis, including its sell-off of state houses.

“The $100m loan to Housing New Zealand is an admission that National has been bleeding state housing dry. Over half a billion dollars in ‘profits’ have been extracted from Housing New Zealand by National, leaving state houses in a dire state and unable to meet demand. This is an admission of National’s role in causing the housing crisis,” says Mr Twyford.

ends

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}

Using Scoop for work?

Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.

Join Pro Individual Find out more

Find more from New Zealand Labour Party on InfoPages.