28 August 2008
Greens: Housing at crisis point for many
News that increasing numbers of families in the far north are being forced into mortgagee sales should be a wake up call
to Government and all political parties about the seriousness of the current housing crisis, the Green Party says.
"I am particularly concerned by reports that in Kaitaia it is often the Far North District Council forcing mortgagee
sales for failure to pay rates," Green Party Housing Spokesperson Sue Bradford says.
"This bears a close resemblance to the land grabs of the past when Maori whenua was seized on the same or similar
grounds.
"As families find it more difficult to cope with rising food, fuel and utilities costs, mortgage payments fall behind,
and people who have struggled for years to keep their home suddenly lose everything they've got.
"The desperate situation for families in the far north and other districts like the East Coast is compounded by the fact
that it is so hard for tangata whenua to build houses on their own communally owned land, and by the unwillingness of
Housing New Zealand to build or acquire enough state houses in these districts to meet demand.
"The Government's Social Report released this morning shows that housing affordability for Maori and Pacific households
has worsened since 2004; that the household crowding rate for Maori is more than double that of the general population;
and that crowding for Pacific people is quadruple the New Zealand total," Ms Bradford says.
"While the Green Party accept that places like South Auckland have a much longer waiting list in terms of sheer numbers,
this doesn't mean that people in places like Gisborne, Kaitaia and Kaikohe aren't desperate for housing too. People
often simply can't afford to rent in the private market, and if they do they can find themselves in overcrowded and
substandard conditions.
"The Green Party knows that for far too many people, especially Maori, Pacific people and low income beneficiaries and
workers, the lack of safe, affordable, healthy housing is at crisis point.
"We will be putting forward a wide range of concrete solutions to this crisis when we launch our housing policy for the
2008 Election at a meeting in South Auckland next Monday night."
(7.00pm Otahuhu Community Centre, High St, Otahuhu).
ENDS