State housing news last week was headlined with the National government decision to transfer 2,800 state houses in Auckland’s Tamaki area (Panmure, Point England and Glen Innes) to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company.
This was both part of the government’s plans to asset-strip state housing and the valuable crown land they occupy as well as a typically callous decision towards low-income tenants and families who are struggling as victims of National’s economic policies.
It was also a somewhat desperate bid to lend credibility to a policy left high and dry by the decisions of key social housing providers the Salvation Army and Methodist Mission to refuse to buy-in to the state house transfer policy.
But amid the welter of attacks on state housing and state house tenants launched by National over the past few years yet another hurdle is to be introduced for those in desperate need of affordable housing.
National has always been quick to say that although state house numbers will fall there will be an increase in “social housing” and government subsidies – the IRRS (Income Related Rental Subsidy) – will be available to those who would otherwise have access to a state house.
However in Treasury-released documents the Minister of Social Housing Paula Bennett indicates the government intention to cap the subsidy. Here’s how she puts it:
“Currently, a waitlisted client must wait for a suitable vacancy, and then they are housed.
Under the proposed capped model, the waitlisted client must wait for both a vacant property, and a ‘financial’ vacancy before they can be housed (eg. there must be funding available for the tenancy)”
And she goes on to say…
“…waitlisted clients may remain on the waitlist even though there are suitable vacant properties available”
So we face the prospect of empty state houses and empty social housing homes while people are forced to continue to live three families to a home or in cars, garages and cockroach-infested caravans.
It’s obvious to most that if current Minister of Social Housing Paula Bennett or the Prime Minister’s mother had faced the sorts of hurdles today’s low-income families face then neither would be in leading political roles today.
Smashing the steps on the social mobility ladder is central to National’s housing policy.
I struggle to comprehend the degree / nature of the rationalisation that enables those who have prospered from the provision of state support to go on to dismantle that support for others.
One tries not to be judgemental but perhaps the only explanation is that at heart these types are ethically / socially bankrupt
The word is “psychopathology”.
I do think these people are getting a sick thrill out of it.
They show now remorse for the suffering of others and seek their own pleasure at any expense, and take huge risks with other people’s well-being.
All traits of a psychopath.
Perhaps they believe as the 18th century aristocrats did? That they are uniquely anointed to rule and the rest of us are here in the pit because of divine decree?
frameblame.org
discusses why psychopaths are being used to rule over people….you might find this interesting.
frameblame.net frameblame.com frameblame.me
John – a question – have you worked out yet as to why you were never invited to nelsons funeral?
pedophiles-psychopaths- ponytails and power….?
http://frameblame.org/pedophiles-and-power/
see also my comments on rawshark – that will bite you.
Communist tactics – CRISIS – CONFLICT – CONTROL.
Pity that those in power today have no conscience!
Nek minit – socioeconomic cleansing of Tamaki by jackbooted thugs for ‘a brighter’ New Zealand.
This looks just like a property developers wet dream. Premium real-estate carved up for a bonanza in the midst of a property bubble and those in the know, those well-connected to our government are going to get very wealthy as a result. It like the halcyon days of the mid 80’s all over.
This almost unheard of Tamaki Redevelopment Company was headed at one point by a National Party associate and it appears NP cheerleader Debra Lawson as Chief Executive. She has since moved on from the CEO position.
Sally Mehrtens executive assistant to chief executive is in fact the former electorate secretary to Murray McCully a mover in their circles by the looks of it.
As for the rest who knows? But not surprisingly there is a distinct National Party influence here and I wonder how the hell Bill English has the right to just carve off a huge part of government land to end up being sold into private and probably foreign investor hands without so much as a vote or anything approaching a mandate
This company is taking over 2800 state houses but most importantly the land they sit on with the aim of building 7500 houses, so in theory your average state house in that zone, between upper Glen Innes and Panmure, sits on a 1/4 acre site so divide that by 3 and I’m guessing the gutters are going be near touching.
Most of these houses are not going to be social housing and its very vague as to how social housing will be catered for. I really worry for those families who are incidental pawns in this game because as you have pointed out National really couldn’t care less about them.
I’m guessing this charade is supposed to look like a decisive step by National to do something about the Red Giant that is Auckland’s housing market but it’s manifestly obvious that it’s nothing of the sort. This is the worst and possibly biggest asset sale/swindle ever by a NZ government and with the exception of Phil Twyfords comments and objections this transfer has happened more or less by stealth and without question.
Basically once the Nats have got rid of social housing by privatising it the new landlords who may well sell on the properties at a big profit the new landlords may well not be happy with depressed rents and will put them up beyond ability to pay. The Gov’s cap steps in only so far meaning the tenant can’t pay the rent and gets evicted end result total profit before people neoliberal policy resulting in misery! but the greed merchants make a fortune!
” This is crony capitalism and corruption at its worst.
The 2,800 New Zealand state houses are being transferred to a company, the Tamaki Redevelopment Company “to encourage regeneration”
It turns out that the ministers responsible for this destruction of social housing are BILL ENGLISH and NICK SMITH both of whom have a 29% shareholding in the company
A minority 41% shareholding belongs to the Auckland City Council ”
http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/
Shareholder 2 295 shares
ENGLISH, Minister Of Finance Hon Bill: Executive Wing Parliament Buildings Wellington,6160 New Zealand
Appointed: 2012-12-20
Shareholder 3 295 shares
SMITH, Minister Of Building And Housing Hon Dr Nick: Executive Wing Parliament Buildings Wellington,6160 New Zealand
Appointed: 2012-12-20
Ministers of the Crown are supposed to act in the Public Interest. That a MotC English and Smith are selling these public assets into their own control is to me CRIMINAL. It shows what a fascist ahole NZ has become.
This really sucks. Exactly the kind of “kick em when they’re down” policy we are used to from these aholes.
It’s all very simple.
Rich white people are running out of places to live. So we engage in ‘gentrification’, which is a pleasant sounding euphemism for ‘chucking the poor and/or brown out of their hovels, and then tarting them up a bit so we can then move in’. The poor and brown will then have to move even further afield in search of ‘affordable’ housing, ensuring they ever remain fringe dwellers on the periphery of society. Once we start to run out of room again, we simply rinse and repeat.
Housing estates in the UK are currently undergoing a similar ‘cleansing’, complete with hired thugs, barbed wire fences and sneering developers who care more about their bloated portfolios and rate of return than their fellow man.
Lovely world we live in.
Rob Muldoon would be turning in his grave if he knew that the National Party is now the “foreign investors party”.
National means for the people of the country, “pride” “obtain political independence” not encourage takeover by overseas foreign investors!!!
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/national
“Devoted to one’s own nation or its interests; patriotic.”
Nationalist is usually a noun. “A nationalist is someone who tries to obtain political independence for his or her country.”
Dear @ John Minto .
Pardon me while I take a flight of fancy and use an alien metaphor .
The Aliens who control our minds and make gleeful decisions to harm us and make us watch on as they’re being ever more cruel to our most at risk and who get excited at the prospect of even greater future cruelties are able to ply their perversities without fear of contradiction .
Ask yourselves non aliens . Who is at fault here ? Who must act ? Who must go, who must do, who must stop this shit ?
Santa Claus ? No . Jesus Christ ? No. The Dali Lama ? No. The Tooth Fairy ? No. The Police ? No. The Pope ? No. The Queen ? No. Brad Pitt ? No. George Clooney ? No. Miss Marples ? No. The gardener ? No. The plumber ? No. The Mailman ? No. The weirdy guy with the garden gnomes ? No. That insufferable little shit telling us how to be more energy efficient ? No. Rugby players ? No . Sporty persons generally ? No. Those odd little voices in your head when you get high ? No. The stinky idiot with the best idea ever but who lives in a small cardboard box ? No. You take LSD and your dog tells you secret things on how to change the world , so your dog ? No. Any book , film or play? No.
That person ? That entity ? That human …. is you .
There is great efficiency achieved when individuals gather to become an holistic organism . A One . A One organism to defeat that which threatens the Individual which is also the Whole. Weirdy music about now .
You don’t want paula bennett giving you grief ? Kick her arse then .
But you can’t ?
Then you need more of you.
Clue …
Gather more of you together ? Duh .
Priority ?
Get gathering dummies .
Yes John,
I side with COUNTRYBOY.
I opposed you in 1984 as you disrupted my birthday when you sent your troops out to try and stop the Maori vs. Springboks game on my birthday.
Jesus that night all the bar wanted to came down to your home in Napier and paint red all over it but we calmed down the anger.
I had a grudge but a deep respect for the way you lead the anti-apartheid group to such a powerful force that prevailed then.
So we need mobilisation again, as you did so well why don’t you repeat the process here.
We need a natural leader to incite anger over the rich vs. poor again in another form of apartheid “economic apartheid” that this corrupt government is now engaged in.
John Minto leads new movement against “economic apartheid”
Dear CLEANGREEN and COUNTERYBOY – ever get tired of holding grudges and blame shifting ?
Tall trees do get a bit more wind.
Me thinks you might not know John Minto very well. We all have masks; we all have lessons to learn but some are more straighter shooters than others. Justice for all and an end to poverty and fear and homelessness.
Some are more compassionate and aware. Some expose the dirt and the very ugly truths and some defend those folks and acts lacking in ethics.
I agree with Waspman – this is a ” property developers wet dream ” !
Greed SO so far before People. PROFIT BEFORE PEOPLE.
We know there is a better way and we know that way and it is coming ! !
We are many. They are few.
Cleangreen and Countryboy are right. We need to mobilise as one, under a non violent entity of civil disobedience.
Non-violence is a social construct set up by those in power to make sure they don’t get hurt! I’m not suggesting violence as an option. I am suggesting ceasing promoting non-violence to comfort the oppressors!
I object to my taxes subsidising rents and people who are providing ‘social housing’. The money is going to the wrong people and is sustaining a bubble. I can’t stop that allocation yet – I object that our laws allow this.
Either before civil action, or concurrently, it’s past time to ‘write your Congressperson’ and remind them – especially those of a pinkish persuasion, that this is NOT ON. Would they please earn their pay and rally the Opposition. They have more resources and avenues than we do.
Drag it out. Delay. Speak up and speak out. Create alternatives. Widen the scope.
Or are they merely puppets with glazed eyes – lulled by the stale air of the Beehive?
Shall we find out?
Most people who still vote evidently think it’s a great idea for their government to make life harder and harder for the poor. As more and more people in paid employment join the ranks of the poor, and the middle classes slowly disappear, it will be interesting to see how long this attitude of callous indifference endures. My guess is that it will for some time, as mainstream discourse increasingly villifies the poor for their alleged moral, or genetic, failings.
NEVER listen to their slogans, and rather look closely at the SMALL PRINT, when it comes to the government and whatever policy they talk about.
This handover to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company is described by Bill English as a “transfer” from one “public” or “state owner” to another, claiming the Company is owned by the Auckland Council and Central Government.
http://www.tamakitrc.co.nz/
So he tries to tell the public, this will not be another “asset sale”. This is crap, as only a percentage is set to remain true “social housing” (they do not even use the word state housing anymore), as under the redevelopment plans only the present number of about 2,600 state homes need to be offered as “social housing”, not the total 7,500 new homes they talk about. Most will be sold to developers, to private investors and potential speculators.
Also will this mean a significant intensification program, where there are likely to be new blocks of flats, with tiny units or flats, for single persons or small families, with only 1 or 2 bedrooms. They will fit about three times as many dwellings on the same area!
That will be the “social housing” of the future, under the Nats, to put humans into battery cage style cheapo homes, while most the land will be sold on the out of control market, where others will cut up the cake to their liking, getting the better sized homes with gardens and so forth.
People should be up in arms about it, and some are. But as it has happened before, the divide and rule tacticts, the cunning lies and calming down propaganda, combined with fear amongst the affected, this will leave most resigned to accept what they get given instead of present homes.
Naturally many will also be sick and disabled, the weakest of the weak, some with large families, and who lived there for many years. They will get shifted, while they will see no choice left, but to put up with the neoliberal antisocial agenda.
Few taxpayers who are still a bit better off, will have much time to join in solidarity, as they are brainwashed to rather be “mindful” of all the tax money they pay. It is the “investment approach” again, “value for bucks”, so to say, but not in quality, not for the affected.
Shame on Paula Bennett and Bill English, to come with this BS of looking after the Nats’ mates, the developers, the better off and the speculators, yet again!
Bill English and Nick Smith are majority shareholders of the Tamaki Redevelopment Company – why is the media silent about this? Surely a conflict of interest?
http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/3937662/shareholdings?backurl=/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/search?q=Tamaki+Redevelopment&entityTypes=ALL&entityStatusGroups=ALL&incorpFrom=&incorpTo=&addressTypes=ALL&addressKeyword=&start=0&limit=15&sf=&sd=&advancedPanel=false&mode=standard
Corruption is now rife within National administration here.
Time for a Royal Commission into corruption within Government folks as we are one of the most corrupt countries in the developed world now.
Bill English and Nick Smith are majority shareholders of the Tamaki Redevelopment Company – why is the media silent about this? Surely a conflict of interest?
Shades of Maurice Williamson (the sacked building minister) all over again and we know where he went or do we?
Perhaps Williamson and his Chinese Billionaire mate (he sold his next-door house to and worked illegally on it also) are all behind this hatched plan also?
I could almost believe that the method used for dreaming up this policy was to trap John Cleese in a room with fascist slogans all over the walls, and feed him enough LSD to create the perfect script for a Pythonesque 1984….
Alternatively, they could have made him watch the “dead parrot” sketch repeatedly….
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