Te Pāti Māori is condemning the coalition government’s decision to halt thousands of state housing builds, and to sell off public land, calling it a direct attack on vulnerable communities.

“Homelessness in Aotearoa is surging under this coalition government and today they have announced that they are gutting 3500 new homes form the housing stock” said Te Pāti Māori MP for Tāmaki Makaurau and spokesperson for Housing, Takutai Tarsh Kemp.

“This government is obsessed with making sure the numbers on their account books look good rather than the number of people on the streets.

“They have no care in the world for those thousands of people who have no shelter over their heads because this government have made them homeless, have cut their benefits, and have done nothing to address the cost of living.

“This is austerity in a nutshell. Punishing the poor, Māori, women, and other minorities for the mistakes of the rich.

“They are gutting the housing stock, sanctioning those on benefits, slashing pay equity claims, and cutting nearly 20,000 jobs from the public sector.

“This government is intentional about manipulating the economy whilst the people suffer. The livelihoods of the people in this country are more than just an expense” concluded Kemp.

Te Pāti Māori will commit to building more social housing, we will ensure that all new homes are accessible, and we will treat housing as a right, not a business. If we were in charge, all tangata whenua and tangata tiriti would have access to warm, dry homes.

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