National’s latest short-sighted housing scheme

Paula Bennett’s announcement today that homeless New Zealanders will be offered up to $5000 to move out of Auckland is a sign of a Minister under enormous pressure, and a government that’s flailing over the housing crisis, the Green Party said today.

“Paula Bennett has clearly just woken up to the fact that New Zealanders don’t want the Government to stand by and watch while thousands of Kiwi families live in cars, overcrowded garages, and on the streets,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

“While moving out of Auckland might work for some people without a home, it’s not going to be practicably possible for many of them, and we’re still going to have thousands of people living in garages, cars and on the streets.

“This is another short-term housing half-measure from the Government, done more for appearance than for effect.

“The obvious solution to our housing emergency is not to ship people out of Auckland to find a home; it’s for the Government to build more state houses in Auckland.

“The Government knows there’s a housing emergency happening right now, but it won’t commit to doing the one thing that would actually make a real difference to people’s lives, and that’s build more state houses.

“The best way to house our most vulnerable people is to build more warm, safe, dry state homes – not sell them off, knock them down, or turf the tenants out.

“This Government is failing and flailing on housing, and Paula Bennett’s latest scheme is yet another Government measure that doesn’t address the underlying causes of our housing crisis,” said Mrs Turei.

ENDS

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