Hear no poverty, see no poverty, speak no poverty: We have lost what it means to be a New Zealander
Martyn
Bradbury
Hear
no poverty, see no poverty, speak no poverty
22
May, 2016
For
some like the Key family, life is one long party. DJing,
modelling, opening pop culture art events in Paris, Hawaiian
mansions, foreign trusts, tax havens, property portfolios,
Instagram followers and tax free capital gains.
For
them NZ is a paradise and their constant inflation of wealth and ego
makes them more aristocrat than citizen. They have a view of NZ as
narrow and vapid as The Edge Radio Station, it’s always a
shallow reflection, there’s always a can of V somewhere, and
wilful ignorance is celebrated.
For
a great many others however, New Zealand is a grim Isle. 80 000
hungry children a day, 300 000 in poverty, 20 000 desperate families,
tens of thousands living in crowded sick homes where the diseases of
poverty do so much life long damage.
For
them these cragged lands never see the sun and their debt servitude
is more akin to a feudal state than democratic one. For these New
Zealanders the egalitarian pretensions of our nation are as grim as
families sleeping in cars. It’s as grim as the PM selling $5billion
in state housing while handing to the richest $3billion in tax cuts.
It’s
as grim as the Housing Minister glibly telling morning report that
there have always been people living in cars.
It’s
as grim as the Minister for Social Housing arrogantly claiming on
Radio NZ that there is no housing crisis.
It’s
as delusional as the Prime Minister claiming all the homeless need to
do is go and see WINZ while promising $3billion in tax cuts.
It’s
as grim as many middle class NZers shrugging off the plight of fellow
citizens because their property portfolio’s have increased in
illusionary wealth.
When
the market pops, and those middle classes suddenly don’t feel so
middle class, wait for the demands to change something then.
No
housing crisis in NZ - Paula Bennett
20
May, 2016
New
Zealand's housing problems are not new but the result of ongoing
issues, and there is no housing crisis, Social Housing Minister Paula
Bennett says.
Yesterday RNZ
reported that
Social Development Ministry officials told the minister a year ago
the emergency housing sector was incoherent, unfair and unaccountable
Speaking
in a Checkpoint interview tonight, Ms Bennett said she had been
worried about the situation since becoming social housing minister
but did not believe the situation was getting worse.
"I
certainly wouldn't call it a crisis. I think that we've always had
people in need. So the other night on TV I heard the homeless story
was second in and then the seventh story was a man who'd been 30
years living on the streets."
Play
Ms
Bennett said many of the homeless had mental health or alcohol and
drug issues that needed to be worked on over time. But her priority
is to have "fixes".
"Not
just at the emergency end, but along that kind of whole pipeline
through to social housing through to affordable housing through to
more supply. So I'm not sure it is a lot worse right now, I've been
acutely aware of it for a long period of time."
Ms
Bennett said the government had put a lot of funding into housing.
She
disputed reports from the Queenstown Lakes Community Trust that there
were 300 people looking for a roof over their heads at a time
when Housing
New Zealand was selling a state house and
saying it had only two or three people on their wait list.
Photo: RNZ
/ Alexander Robertson
She
said those 300 people wanted to get into an affordable house, and
"they had more of a rent to buy scheme".
"We
don't need that house, why wouldn't we sell it and put it into some
of the really acute areas?" she asked.
She
did agree that there were stories of growing numbers of people
without accommodation.
"Certainly
I reckon you've got people that are getting into debt people that are
getting them into situations, landlords get to be a bit more picky.
I've got to say from a social housing perspecitve in Housing New
Zealand we are less tolerable of inappropriate behaviour and violent
behaviour, so we certainly are kicking more people out than we used
to.'
She
said Housing New Zealand would not allow methamphetamine to be smoked
and manufactured in its houses and people will be kicked out for
doing so.
Asked
whether market forces were not working in relation to housing, and
whether it was time for some social engineering, Ms Bennett said
there certainly were people in social housing who should not be
there, and that was why Housing New Zealand was doing tenancy
reviews.
As
a result, she said 672 people had been moved on, more than 10 percent
of whom went on to buy their own home.
She
said Housing New Zealand already had 600 houses in construction and
already consented.
She
said there were "really good products" that were working,
but "it's just not a click of my fingers overnight".
Ms
Bennett said one of those was giving more money to community housing
organisations, so it was not just government providing social
housing.
And
she said it was "not about the money".
"If
we could give Housing New Zealand a heap more money they've still got
consenting issues, they've still got to find temporary houses for
those who've got to move out."
Ms
Bennett said she took the leadership role on social housing.
"I
spend the bulk of my time on social housing issues and driving my
department into seriously thinking about different ways of tackling
this."
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