housing

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Housing policy omnishambles rolls on

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 8:25 am, June 16th, 2016 - 64 comments

The government that will pay you $5000 to leave Auckland and $3000 to move to Auckland has been selling state houses so recklessly that it is now considering building temporary ones. Headless chickens make more sense.

National is missing Cameron Slater

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:05 am, June 15th, 2016 - 33 comments

The ham fisted attack on Hurimoana Dennis by Paula Bennett’s office must make National yearn for the heady days when Cameron Slater was in charge of their smears.

The ghost house epidemic and the invisible hand

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:01 am, June 13th, 2016 - 54 comments

Last year there were officially 22,000 unoccupied properties in Auckland. This year 33,000 are officially classified as empty. “Auckland’s 6.6 per cent vacancy rate is higher than either Sydney (5.2 per cent) or Melbourne (4.8 per cent), where there has been an uproar over “ghost houses” deliberately left empty by speculators trading on a soaring market”. This is madness.

Where is Paula?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:00 am, June 11th, 2016 - 120 comments

In the middle of a housing crisis the Minister of Social Housing Paula Bennett is nowhere to be seen.

There is no housing crisis in New Zealand *

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:55 am, June 10th, 2016 - 52 comments

* according to Nick Smith and Paula Bennett.

Banks act on housing affordability crisis (while National sits on its hands)

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 6:29 am, June 10th, 2016 - 144 comments

Despite Key’s barnstorming 2007 speech on the housing affordability crisis, National these days prefer to deny that it exists. Apparently fed up with waiting for the government to take action, banks are moving to reduce their risk and limit foreign buyers.

FIFY: Bennett too embarrassed to visit marae

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 2:58 pm, June 9th, 2016 - 72 comments

bennett too busy

National’s lies, damn lies and statistics on housing

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:05 am, June 9th, 2016 - 43 comments

The housing crisis is not going away, and National needs to offer something better than lies, damn lies, and statistics.

If you still need to be persuaded about New Zealand’s homeless crisis …

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:52 am, June 9th, 2016 - 154 comments

Eleven year old TA is bright, dedicated but homeless. She has challenged John Key to try walking in her shoes.

Yet another indicator of the homeless crisis

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 12:44 pm, June 8th, 2016 - 22 comments

The homeless population of central Auckland has more than doubled in the last 3 years. That’s quite a legacy John Key. Meanwhile Te Puea Marae is still putting the government to shame, you can donate here.

Has NZ hit this milestone too?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:32 am, June 6th, 2016 - 30 comments

For the first time in 130 years, more young adults (18 – 34) in America live with their parents than with a partner. How long before we pass the same milestone – or have we done so already?

Help Te Puea Marae help the homeless

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:01 am, June 3rd, 2016 - 19 comments

The Marae providing practical support to the homeless in Auckland needs our help. You can donate at the Givealittle page here. It is shameful that this is needed in NZ, but there it is, this is what the Brighter Future looks like.

Why not just – build some damn houses?

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 3:46 pm, June 2nd, 2016 - 91 comments

Today the Nats released a National Policy Statment (NPS) on housing. It formalises their recent strategy of incorrectly blaming local councils – and it doesn’t build anything.

Key’s housing plan “moronic”

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 2:51 pm, June 1st, 2016 - 25 comments

It isn’t often that you here such a blunt assessment of Nat policy. It’s moronic because it isn’t a housing policy at all, it’s a blame deflecting plan.

Labour builds the houses (yet another Key lie)

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 2:49 pm, May 31st, 2016 - 19 comments

Good work fact-checking by Geoff Simmons at the Morgan Foundation. Contrary to Key’s lie, Labour builds more houses than National.

Watkin on the Nats’ housing blame game

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:35 am, May 30th, 2016 - 57 comments

Tim Watkin: “What’s clear is that National, as is their well worn tactic, will do its best to ensure the blame gets shared around”.

Housing should not depend on charity – but this is an emergency

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:15 am, May 30th, 2016 - 45 comments

Bravo to Te Puea Marae and their supporters – you are doing what needs to be done – and you are putting the government to shame.

Housing policy omnishambles

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 2:45 pm, May 27th, 2016 - 19 comments

The Nats will pay you $3000 to move to Auckland and $5000 to leave it. This is what happens when you have no vision, no plan, and no NFI what you’re doing.

Key’s powerful speech on the urgent housing crisis

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:12 am, May 27th, 2016 - 41 comments

John Key has given a powerful speech on NZ’s housing crisis: “This is an issue that should concern all New Zealanders. It threatens a fundamental part of our culture, it threatens our communities and, ultimately, it threatens our economy.”

The Mother Budget

Written By: Bill - Date published: 6:21 pm, May 26th, 2016 - 89 comments

There are budgets and there are budgets. And for all the presence or absence of bright ideas, there’s a budget that threatens to subsume all others…

Bennett’s housing “announcement” is a re-announcement and a lie

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 3:27 pm, May 25th, 2016 - 140 comments

Paula Bennett’s “big” housing “announcement” today is a re-announcement with a twist of lie.

Newshub poll – Key’s government has failed on housing

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 3:10 pm, May 25th, 2016 - 48 comments

Quite apart from falling to his lowest level ever as preferred PM, the Newshub poll had more bad news for King John.

Bennett admits she was wrong

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:01 am, May 25th, 2016 - 18 comments

Paula Bennett has basically apologised to Parliament for claiming that National would create 3,000 new social housing beds when all that it was doing is funding existing beds to make sure they did not disappear.

Another strong piece from Little

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:43 am, May 24th, 2016 - 36 comments

Andrew Little had an excellent piece in The Herald yesterday: “It’s always about choices, and National has made some terrible ones”.

Nick Smith 0.75% successful on Auckland housing!

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 7:18 am, May 24th, 2016 - 27 comments

One year later Nick Smith has delivered three quarters of 1% of his promised 430 ha of new Auckland housing land. The Brighter Future strikes again.

Petition to forgive emergency accommodation debt

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 11:30 am, May 20th, 2016 - 18 comments

A petition: “As Minister of Social Development we call upon Minister Anne Tolley to urgently forgive all debts incurred by people who have been forced to stay in Motels as emergency accommodation….”

Incoherent, unfair and unaccountable

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:01 am, May 20th, 2016 - 48 comments

That is how officials from the Ministry of Social Development described the emergency housing system to Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett – a year ago. What has Bennett done in the year since?

We’re going to burn it all, until we burn it down.

Written By: Colonial Viper - Date published: 12:11 am, May 20th, 2016 - 173 comments

What does it really mean to reduce NZ’s total fossil fuel use by 50% by 2030: a warm up discussion for an upcoming thought experiment.

Glib words and false hope aren’t going to cut it

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:02 am, May 19th, 2016 - 151 comments

This is a massive market and moral failure. The problem isn’t going to go away, it’s going to get worse, and the media are going to stay on the case. Time for National to borrow some more Labour / Green policy thinking.