Dear John --



I’m releasing the fifth issue in National’s Demand the Debate campaign, this time on homelessness. Kiwis deserve the debate on the Labour Government’s decision to spend $1 million a day on motels to house the homeless.



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For two elections Labour campaigned on building houses, but instead they have been renting rooms for up to $2000 a week as its solution to homelessness.



The taxpayer is again footing the bill for the Labour Government’s failed policies. The hundreds of millions of dollars that Labour will spend on motels to house the homeless this year could build more than 1000 safe and secure houses for these families.



Under Labour:



- Promised 100,000 KiwiBuild homes - 18,000 should have been built by now, but less than 10 per cent have been.

- Fudging state house numbers – Labour’s claim of 8000 new state houses shows actually less than half are new builds.

- Top of the OECD for least affordable housing – worst for price-to-rent ratios, price-to-income ratios, real price growth, and nominal price growth.

- Surprise tax changes - removed interest deductibility and extended the bright-line test, punishing landlords, and house prices still climbed by 8.9 per cent.

- Rents up – rents have increased $100 punishing students and those on low incomes.

- Over 4000 kids growing up in motels - average stay in emergency accommodation now more than three months. Motel owners are charging more than $440 per night for emergency housing hotel rooms that don’t have to meet quality standards.

- Negligence on safety and security in emergency housing - high amounts of reported violence, intimidation, disorderly conduct, drug deals and gang involvements happening at emergency motels.

- Most at risk Kiwis waiting longer – highest-risk housing applicant numbers have grown from three in Dec 2017 to 198 now. Used to be housed in less than a week, now the average wait time is 207 days for a house.

- Record high levels of applicants on the state housing register - figures sit at 23,688 as at March 2021. More than four times as many as when National left office in 2017.  



Every week we’re contacted by thousands of Kiwis who feel they are being left out and want a say on the future of their country. Kiwis deserve to know why our towns and cities are changing because the Labour Government is failing to deliver on its housing promises.



Help us reach more Kiwis. Join the Demand the Debate Campaign by donating here. <[link removed]>



National is the party of home ownership. We are committed to sensible solutions that will get more New Zealanders into their own home without hitting them with more taxes.



The Government’s parliamentary majority is not a mandate for Labour to promote its ideological wish list. New Zealanders deserve a say on their country’s future and together we must demand the debate.



You can find out more here <[link removed]>.



Regards



Judith



Judith Collins

Leader







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NZ National Party - 41 Pipitea St, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

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