Privatisation of public land a broken promise by Government

Despite the Labour Party repeatedly campaigning to stop any sales of state homes, a 8094 square metre site in Mt Albert, Auckland, is being sold by Housing New Zealand through Bayleys Real Estate. Auckland Action Against Poverty is calling on the Government to stop the sale of public land and instead build state homes for low-income families facing the brunt of the housing crisis.

“It is unacceptable for the Government to be privatizing public land, particularly in the midst of a housing crisis. Private developers won’t be able to provide truly affordable houses”, says Ricardo Menendez March, Auckland Action Against Poverty Coordinator.

“The Labour Government is still continuing the privatization of public land through mixed housing developments. It’s a betrayal of their election promises of stopping the sale of state houses.

“The Government, instead of privatising the land for wealthy developers, should invest resources to build medium density public housing to alleviate our fast growing homelessness levels.

“With the state housing stock barely increasing, it is irresponsible to not make the most of public land available to build more state homes.

“Housing New Zealand is under-resourced by central Government to tackle the housingcrisis, which is a product of successive Government’s fiscally conservativeapproach to public housing.

“The Government is offloading its responsibility to provide permanent, secure, healthy homes to companies who do not have the interest of the general population at heart. Bayleys Real Estate will be driven to make a profit, which means creating houses that are unreachable for low-income communities.

“Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern talks about ensuring that every New Zealander has access to a home, yet in her own electorate her Government is privatizing public land that could be used for genuine affordable housing developments.

“The Government needs to urgently stop the sell of public land originally designated for state homes. If this Government is serious about putting an end to the housing crisis it would not be betraying its promise to stop the sell of state homes."

ENDS

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