|
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.
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.
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.
Regards
Judith
Judith Collins
Leader
|
