Whanganui letters: Partnerships needed to solve housing crisis

One writer suggests it's time for Whanganui District Council to partner with iwi and government to solve the housing crisis. Photo / Bevan Conley

At first glance, the term "landlord" as in lord of the land seems anachronistic, but maybe it's not. After all, right now, landlords seem to be lording it over nearly 40 per cent of New Zealand's population.

It's emblematic (though perhaps not quite so obvious) of the tyranny of feudal times, which most of our forebears migrated here to escape.

But you cannot blame landlords entirely. In fact, it's more the result of investment illiteracy, totally uneven playing fields in terms of tax treatment and favouring current owners, market rule combined with diminishing government participation, immigration without supporting infrastructure, misjudged Covid responses and banks breaking their own risk rules.

Which leads to a convenient segue into Government's recent announcement (Chronicle, April 27) of a review of local government. Let's face it: getting elected is a popularity contest with little regard to skillsets and there are dysfunctional councils everywhere. Time for councils to seriously consider giving away the Three Waters and focusing on housing their people.

When on the council here, looking at wastewater solutions, it was claimed there were 40-odd inadequate or failing treatment plants in just the lower North Island. Bringing back the old Ministry of Works, with say 10 plant templates and a big skills base, seemed an obvious answer.

Whanganui of course has moved ahead, when some neighbours haven't. But we are all in this together and Whanganui (and iwi) must negotiate.

Time to partner with government (and iwi) in solving the housing crisis, which one visiting United Nations observer described as an emerging humanitarian crisis in New Zealand. The Government needs to assist councils in housing their communities and expanding revenue bases from the narrowest in the OECD.

Germany has had no house price inflation over 40 years, largely because municipalities help to house their citizens. Whanganui's initiative with iwi is a step in the right direction.

MARTIN VISSER
Whanganui

Wider views needed on Māori wards

The leading headline "Support for Māori wards 'overwhelming'" in the Chronicle (May 18) is in my opinion grossly misleading, probably mischievous and may not reflect the majority views of the total ratepayers in the Whanganui and Horizon regions.

The survey on which the headline is based was mailed to those people on the Māori electoral roll and only offered online to others on the general roll.

For the survey to be more meaningful and representative and indeed democratic, would it not have been fairer to mail everyone?

Nicola Patrick contends that the ward survey was overwhelmingly supported by those on the Māori roll and this is quite an obvious statement to make and of course she would say that knowing her views, but I ask would it have been so clear-cut if everyone had been polled?

I note that only a bare majority of non-Māori who voted were supportive - 86 of the 170 total responders - so it was close-run thing, and only 1649 of the 18,500 on the Māori roll (9 per cent) returned an opinion, so there is a big unknown out there.

In order that a better assessment of views can be obtained, can I suggest, if it's not already mooted, that on next year's local body election voting paper we have an insertion asking whether we are in favour of Māori wards or not before a definitive decision is made.

RAY HUTCHISON
St Johns Hill

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