Several election candidates will be speaking at a housing crisis rally in Napier next weekend, which an organiser says is already highlighting the widespread belief that urgency is needed to tackle the problem.
The rally will be held on Sunday at the Napier Soundshell, starting at 2pm, and will feature a range of speakers including Labour Party Ikaroa Rawhiti electorate MP Meka Whaitiri, Maori Party co-leader and List MP Marama Fox, and Green Party candidate Damon Rusden, while organisers are awaiting replies from other parties.
They have, however, been told by the organisers - the newly-formed Community Housing Action Team (Chat) to keep it tight, limited to three minutes each in a programme of talk and entertainment.
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Other speakers will include those Chat members Michelle Pyke says are the "VIP list" - people who are at the coalface and who are prepared to speak about their plight and fights, including a representative of "rough sleepers" and a mother forced out of rental accommodation by a property sale, highlighting two aspects of the crisis.