Social housing proposal falls well short of addressing housing challenges for whānau

While the Māori Party welcomes some of the social housing proposals announced yesterday, it believes much more needs to be done to provide healthy and affordable homes for whānau.

"The social housing announcement is a mixed bag. While some whānau will benefit from initiatives like the income-related rent subsidy, we believe there is a long journey ahead for providing healthy and affordable homes, particularly for the hundreds of people who have no home to go to every night,” says Māori Party Co-leader Marama Fox.

Mrs Fox says ensuring there is adequate emergency housing is one of her biggest concerns.

"This proposal may alleviate the supply of low cost housing in the future, but it won't put a roof over people's heads immediately," says Mrs Fox.

“It is totally unacceptable that we have whānau in our country that don't have a safe place to sleep. The recent City Mission story in the New Zealand Herald showed that the number of people sleeping rough in central Auckland has more than doubled over the last year from 68 to 147, more than half whom are Māori, and this is a sobering reminder of the crisis we face. The additional support of $500,000 for emergency housing that was announced is simply not enough.”

The proposal also falls short of the mark in ensuring whānau live in healthy homes.

In Budget 2013, the Māori Party pushed for a warrant of fitness trial for HNZC homes – and for good reason. It was eventually revealed that more than 90 percent of the 69,000 HNZC homes in the trial did not meet the standard.

"This proposal mentions the home insulation programme, which the Māori Party promoted, but it doesn't mention the upgrade and maintenance of social housing. It’s critical that whānau have homes to live in that meet basic standards. An investment in healthy homes will pay off for itself in the long run,” says Māori Party Co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell.

The Māori Party also wants greater investment in successful Māori housing initiatives such as papakāinga and developments like the Aorangi Housing project in Napier, says Mrs Fox.

For further information on the Māori Party’s housing policy go to http://maoriparty.org/policies/housing/ and the Māori Housing Strategy on to http://www.mbie.govt.nz/what-we-do/housing/he-whare-ahuru-he-oranga-tangata-maori-housing-strategy

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