Press Release
Housing Crisis Worsens As Government Continues To Fudge And Lie
MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau Hone Harawira
Thursday 8th November
MANA leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Hone Harawira, addressed the crowd who marched on Parliament to mark the Housing
Crisis Day of Action yesterday including whānau from the communities of Pomare, Maraenui, and Glen Innes currently
subject to housing ‘renewal’ programmes.
“I support each and every one of those who turned up to make a stand for their whānau, their community, and their
fundamental human right to a home”, said Hone Harawira, Leader of MANA. “They are fully committed to seeing their whānau
housed in decent, affordable homes and holding this corrupt government to account, and I will do everything I can to
help them achieve this.”
“The government simply does not care. They continue to lie and deceive and fudge figures to cover up the fact that
they’re selling up and pulling down state houses around the country because they’d rather sell the land to their
property developer mates – the very thing that makes the hole of the housing affordability crisis even bigger and
deeper”.
Following the march to Parliament, Mr Harawira questioned the Minister of Housing about how the government’s policy will
actually solve the current housing crisis for low-income familieswhen it’s focus is on reducing the number of state
houses in favour of private rentals and property options for the rich, forcing people into homelessness.
“None of it adds up. The Minister says they’re building more state houses, and yet in relation in Glen Innes he quoted
figures of taking away 156 state houses and replacing them with 78. Where I went to school, that adds up to less not
more. And his line that having an additional 40 “affordable” private rentals makes the policy even less plausible not
more. I don’t buy for a second that in Glen Innes, for example, ocean-view properties built by their rich developer
mates will be affordable for low-income whānau. Does he think we’re dummies or what?
“I wonder, will the Minister consider resigning, as his colleague Kate Wilkinson has done, as the housing crisis
continues to worsen under his watch?”
ENDS