When the first Labour government came to power in 1935 New Zealand faced a housing crisis. Under pressure from his more progressive ministers the Prime Minister Micky Savage approved a state house building programme so that from 1938 to 1942 the government built 14,000 new state houses – 3,500 per year. The population at that time was 1.6 million.
Fast forward to 2021. We have the sixth Labour government also facing a housing crisis with a state house waiting list of over 22,000 – these are people with the most desperate housing need.
Our population now is five million – three times larger than it was in 1935.
So are we building three times as many new state houses each year as we were in 1935?
No! In fact each year we are now building less than half the number we built each year from 1938. (The government’s big promise in last year’s budget was to build 8,000 new state houses over five years which means just 1600 new state houses each year compared to the 3,500 per year from 1938)
If we were to build new state houses from 2021 at the same rate we built them under the first labour government then we would be building 10,500 per year instead of the measly 1600 per year Labour is promising.
It’s no wonder that under Labour the state house waiting list has been increasing at three times the rate the government is building new state houses.
By any measure the Jacinda Ardern’ government’s effort to build new state houses is pitiful.
Q. How fast are we building state houses?
A. As fast and with as much marketing spin as we are solving climate change and environmental destruction in NZ.
Yes, John, we have a pitiful non-government that focuses on the trivial, and fails miserably on every fundamental.
However things need to get a lot worse on all fronts before the dumbed-down masses wake up to the fact that everything that matters is being made rapidly worse [by government].
The media shills and liars keep up the drumbeat that everything is rosy and that we are on the path to a bright future. I wonder if that could that be anything to do with need for advertising revenues, in our broken broadcasting model, introduced by the traitors who called themselves Labour decades ago and who still hide behind that socialist banner.
Kunstler is of the opinion everything is on the precipice of everything in America going kaput.
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-game-is-on/
which concurs with the analysis of Charles Hugh Smith over recent months.
13 years of money-printing and manipulation of interest rates and markets by the Fed and other central banks since the last major upheaval [of 2007-8] has simply made the globalised financial system more fragile and susceptible to rapid meltdown. And has impoverished billions of people around the world, including a million or two (arguably five) in NZ.
So, things will get a lot worse over the coming weeks/months….until the crumbling system finally breaks altogether.
But as Kunstler points out, it will be no joyride when that happens.
Housing is fast becoming Labour’s number 1 failure. And its a critical meltdown type failure too.
Their failure dovetails perfectly with growing inequity, poverty, health issues both physical and mental and crime. Does Ardern really want to be remembered for being a Victorian era PM who continued to enable the unwanted byproducts of succesive government’s, indifference and greed, namely ignorance and want?
There appears no one within Labours caucus who questions its leaderships steadfast and warped belief that the very economic model that created this mess will somehow correct itself.
And forget the Green Party going into bat for non home owners. Their collective concerns today are gay conversion therapy, really really useful when you live in a car and the coup-d-etat, bringing in refugees again. That is great but when your own people are economic refugees who can’t be housed, why is it our deliciously pampered middle class Green MP’s cannot see the irony?
Here’s hoping in 2021 that Jacinda stops defaulting to her base political instincts of bullshit and deflection, throws off the neo lib straight jacket and starts the process of government design and build domestic housing supply. But the realist in me suspects they still have no plan, just vacant housing ministers , greed and indifference.
One of the impediments to speeding up the process is a lack of decent tradespeople.. That is one of the more obvious symptoms of the nationalist/colonial party economic/industrial policy.. There are thousand of good tradespeople in Australia, for example, that would come here to take up the slack, if it wasn’t for the fact that wages, and conditions are still at a level that makes it too much of a sacrifice to make the trip… Before any real progress will be made, wages and conditions have to be brought back to a level that makes it viable to attract them.. Reintroducing proper training would help too.. Not so much for now, but good tradespeople need good apprentices, and vice versa.. The last two tory gangs have managed to put industrial relations and working conditions back toward the paradigm that existed over 80 years ago.. It would take around 5-8 years to reset to the point where we are producing skilled workers to a level that allows us to be ambitious without it being just wishful thinking.. That to my mind, is what is the major weakness regarding any housing plan at present..
reintroducing proper training would help…. Well said, as someone who came through the apprenticeship system in the 1960,s. I was trained in a family firm who kept up to 3 apprentices on. I was well treated as one of the family and they were happy for me to leave and make my own way in the world. The government needs a major training rethink but I,m not sure that they are up to it. regards, Keith
Right on Keith,
My parents ran an electrical business for 30 odd years. For most of that time there was 3 vans on the road
Each van had a “man and a boy” tradesman and apprentice.
KThe boys became tradesmen with across the board skills , some stayed on some moved towns, some started in opposition. That has been the method of teaching trade skills since the building of the pyramids 3000 years ago. Along comes Helen Clarks labour government of academics and decides that trade skills can be taught in polytech away from the job
A dismal failure. We now reap what was sown!!
Jacinda is the ultimate fraudster. She told the people she would make NZ more equal but has increased inequality exponentially? When house prices were rising rapidly a fair leader would have said house prices can come down, instead she said that she wants them to keep rising because kiwis “expect it”? This put another rocket up the market because not only did Adrian Orr have investors backs but Jacinda did too? Then yesterday we learn that the RBNZ told Grant Robertson a year ago that their policies will massively increase inequality and he essentially turned away and said “get on with it”. Jacinda got voted in to introduce a CGT then turned her back on the idea FOREVER? We need to investigate how corrupt this government really is…. how many homes do they own and how much profit are they and their families making from this disaster? Something seriously stinks here in NZ…… Jacinda is becoming NZ’s very own Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Just look at the Tony Blair play book and you can get a darn good idea of what Jacinda will do, to make sure she does nothing to upset the real power behind our faux democracy.
Worth Reading – how socialist Ken Livingston have helped lead housing inequality with the wrong solutions!
Penthouses and poor doors: how Europe’s ‘biggest regeneration project’ fell flat
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/feb/02/penthouses-poor-doors-nine-elms-battersea-london-luxury-housing-development
In 1996, the Ministry of Defence decided to sell off its housing stock. The financier Guy Hands bought it up in a deal that would make his investors billions – and have catastrophic consequences for both the military and the taxpayer
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/apr/25/mod-privatise-military-housing-disaster-guy-hands
Get in the queue John we need to work on stopping gay converting therapy working out when the next public holiday can be held find out how many more millions we can waste on committees and a host of other things before we try and fix housing or child poverty.
We know we have 3 years with a majority that will protect us from any real opposition and next time we can rope the Greens and Maori Party in to give us another 3 years. So no need to worry just smile and look busy
No, the first thing we need to stop is immigration. A country our size is like squeezing more and more air into a balloon. The impact is so destructive, it is near on impossible to reverse. Smile and look busy was the John Key operandi and to put it bluntly he has completely fucked our country up. We have failed to protect our own succumbing to the theory that immigration helps the economy. Whilst others escaped their own country we neglected our own, so hardly no surprise we ended up where we are now.
To flout sarcasm surrounding our government trying to fix right wing ideology particularly by a foreigner adds nothing. Can I suggest you return to the U.K., they seem to have everything perfect.
I tried to not believe it but I have now came to the realization that in NZ if you are rich the ruling parties are completely focussed on enriching you and making your life much better, however, if you are poor, the ruling parties are out to crush you and completely destroy your life. This is why I have decided I either have to move to Australia or accept I have no hope. I have chosen Australia. It breaks my heart because I love NZ but I now know that NZ does not love or want me….. I am not rich enough to matter.
Why rush to build when the plan all along was to force social housing tenants to share with other tenants?
Fletchers has a monopoly on building products and is 80% Offshore owned, keeping supply tight on building products they can maximise their returns to their Offshore Shareholders. Simple business common sense. Maybe John Key and National should not of sold those State Houses to their mates for a pittance.
Transferring State Wealth to Private Individuals.
Agree with Kevin Brown. I didn’t & will NEVER vote for the Blairite. She is all about how she LOOKS – not what she DOES! I think too many people (including some connected with TDB) think that St. should preface the PM’s name. She looks good, talks “good” (AFA some people are concerned) but is not & IMO, will never be, a DOER. I haven’t a shred of respect for her!
Ditto Isabel.
The great hand wringing angsting Ardern who then sits on her hands. She who gave so many people some hope for real transformational change. She has done zilch!
If you really want to do the “build-it-yourself”thing and end up with a basic consented house (MBIE multi-proof consent) with no need to involve an LBP and at a cost that blows other factory houses into the weeds ….. try qbh.co.nz. House arrives in a shipping container and clicks together. Very well documented process. Buy as a kit, a shell or a finished house.
All done in NZ not China. I have no association with them ….
That is pretty good. Now where to get cheap land?
Comments are closed.