Here we go again . . .

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

This is a very emotive headline but is the result of a new Government refusing to spend money on what we need. That money wasn’t to be wasted by Labour, which built houses we own. It is just the start of yet another #nznationalparty Govt selling off prime land to their property investing, developer mates. This time in Onehunga. The new houses will be next.

After all, Bill English is in charge of Kāinga Ora and he, in a previous National Party govt, oversaw the reduction of our social housing stock substantially.

The reason why governments need to spend money is so that people can live with respect in warm, dry homes they can afford.

Imagine how much all of those accommodation allowances are costing us, on top of tax-free capital gains and interest tax rebates. That is $billions of our money going to enrich landlords and developers.

I’ve just seen a three-bedroom ex-state house in Lawrence St, Kaiti, Gisborne to rent for $665 a week.

Houses have more than doubled in value since those houses were sold, so landlords are making a killing on it.

That is $billions of public money we will never see again, but which could have been spent on houses that we will own far into the future.

Giving away public money and land to landlords and developers is an ideological choice which will make us all poorer.

https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/03/26/debt-stricken-kainga-ora-pauses-big-public-housing-projects-sells-land/

Mary-Ann de Kort