ADRIAN RURAWHE: Headaches of housing crisis

THE HOUSING crisis is another worrying symptom of growing social inequality in Aotearoa.

It is a stressful time for whnau to not be able to afford to live in a house provided by the state at an affordable rental.

State houses were an essential part of our social fabric, but now they sit empty or have been sold or demolished.

It was also stressful and distressing to see whnau removed from their long-standing homes in Auckland's Glen Innes, and the houses removed from the sections. Where have those people gone? What are they living in now?

We can only deduce this collateral damage is acceptable to this Government, which has fuelled Auckland's housing crisis.

The housing stock is depleted and the Government is not building enough - it's a simple case of there not being enough housing to sustain the demand. The Government has had seven years to fix this, but to say they have been slack is an understatement.

They have been irresponsible and devoid of a social conscience. Social housing under National has been eroded as it continues to shirk its responsibility, and transfer its obligations to non-government organisations.

Another contributing factor in the Auckland housing crisis was when the deposit amount for a house was raised. This did nothing to ease the housing crisis - it just made housing affordability unreachable for many, especially in the regions.

And with the values rising dramatically, only investors or overseas buyers will be able to afford to buy a house in Auckland.

Those who would have qualified previously for a state house now do not fit the criteria, even though it is by the slimmest of margins. The threshold to qualify for a state house is so high and cumbersome, and I believe this has been done deliberately.

I am aware of a sole mother with five children earning an average income who did not qualify. She moved in with her parents who mortgaged their home to buy their daughter a house, so their mokopuna would have their own home.

Another whnau I heard about lived in a state unit for two decades. The husband died and a few days after the funeral the wife was asked to vacate. Housing New Zealand put in a single young man, and then months later the unit was empty and a drug-testing vehicle turned up to test the property.

It must weigh on the minds of those people in government organisations who have to enact these heartless policies.

Plenty of people are living in overcrowded situations which impacts on the health of the whnau, and it brings child poverty into stark focus.

We should have one of the highest standards of living in the OECD but the Government is itself in crisis as it does the minimum patch-up job on housing.

Under Labour Party policy, we would commit to building houses on land that the Government is hocking off to developers.

A Labour-led government would pledge to build 10,000 homes every year. Auckland needs 13,000 homes to be built now, but the Government has built only 300 in Hobsonville with another 400 in progress.

But south of the Bombays, New Zealand has plenty of space, and here in the provinces there is room for more people.