Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

Housing activists protest at "The Block" open house

Housing activists protest at "The Block" open house this Saturday


Housing activists will be organizing a protest this Saturday at the open home event for TV3's The Block.

Auckland house and rental prices continue to rise, leaving many families behind. The average house price in Meadowbank (where The Block is filmed) is over a million dollars. This is simply affordable.

To buy a house from the Block, a family would likely need a deposit of over $200,000. Further to that, mortgage repayments of over a thousand dollars a week would a nurse or a teacher would have to spend their entire wage on mortgage costs.

The reality is that the homes from the block will likely go to rich investors- working people are being left behind.

Rally organiser Ben Peterson said "Isn't it absurd that on one hand we have people sleeping in cars, and on the other we have a TV show profiting off unaffordable homes? Housing should be a right, not a way to get ratings"

Protesters will meet at 12pm at Saint Johns College (200 St Johns Road), and then march to the open home event at 97 St Johns Road. Everyone is welcome to this family friendly event. The protest has been called by Unions Auckland housing committee.

"This isn't having a go at Block contestants, its just trying to say that there has got to be some action on housing. It just doesn't make sense that hundreds of thousands watch houses get built for TV, but nothing gets done for the homeless."

"Given that politicians have done so little to fix the problem so far, maybe John Key should step in and buy The Block as state housing. That would be good TV"

See here for facebook event-
https://www.facebook.com/events/1753780208231447


ends

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.