Labour are about to give a huge welfare increase of up to $50 a week.
But before that happens, Labour must get the Greens and Māori Party on board for a rent freeze because if Labour raise welfare $50, greedy Landlords who have bragged about how they will punish renters for Labour closing their tax loopholes will take that $50 the way they did with Student Allowances in 2018.
Why increase welfare if Landlords steal it?
An immediate rent freeze to stop them until new renters rights laws are passed.
Don’t pretend this wasn’t bought up when it predictably happens.
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Of course that is what should happen, but the Labour Caucus would quite likely rather shit their pants on live nationwide TV AND sell their Grans, than intervene with rent control. I was just going to mention the $50 pw student allowance increase debacle, (linked to in Martyn’s article) when scumlords put up student flat rents immediately by $50pw!
Rent control imo will take a strong campaign including occupations of empty residences to achieve. The Govt. could at least ensure that all state tenants with income related rents would have no rent increases.
And, what the Govt could also do for beneficiaries is fare free public transport, free or heavily subsidised Wifi to break down the poverty induced digital divide, free phone top up cards (beneficiaries have to conduct most contacts online now), and wipe out all existing debt to clean slate status–with no new debts established if extra money is needed for food and rent and healthcare.
They could also enact all remaining WEAG Report recommendations immediately.
Agree 100 per cent
Less landlords is more people in emergency housing it seems. It makes me angry that the victims from the past 10 years neoliberal global policy are now living in horrible conditions and with the environment suffering.
There are many affordable housing options which I can’t be bothered going into as I mention them often, nobody wants to implement things that will help people renting and getting on the property ladder, they just want to blame other people and continue with the past 15 years of failed policy on housing and social services.
Not interested in people “getting onto the property ladder”. It’s a really offensive cliche. Young people wanting to buy their own home so they are free of the rent scams and have a stable home for their retirement yes. Another offensive cliche is “mum and dad investors”.
@ RosieLee, agreed. Hate those phrases too and also ‘warm, dry, houses’ the joke is that with climate change, maybe the tent will be the new warm, dry house so everyone gets one by 2050!
Buying a houses and renting is also very difficult with NZ’s growing precariat work situation. You have a great job, buy a house, next minute a ‘restructure’ and you have no job and don’t have money to pay a mortgage or have to move.
Precariat housing and renting needs to be looked at in conjunction with growing precariat working conditions and redundancy in NZ and low wages.
Absolutely agree Rosie Lee.
Landlords are responsible for the building. If they don’t know where the skeletons in the closet are then they’ll get screwed on the insurance claim, pay out of there own pocket and blame the tenant for there slum lord behaviour. Fuck the dumb cunts.
$150 per bedroom, maximum.
If landlords receive rent directly from MSD then definitely that $50 will simply become a taxpayer gift to landlords. How bad and how unacceptable would that be?
There is absolutely no point in this raise unless it is parasite proofed otherwise we’ve just lined the pockets of these undeserving creatures.
There needs to be a vaccination against housing investors!
I have no problem with your proposal. All one needs is the costs covered. If the rent doesn’t cover most of the costs, then it’s a bad investment from the outset. Get rid of it. Any property will gain value in the long run, way beyond the brightline.
Got my increase email today – $35 increase p/week. It may seem quite low increase compared to others I have seen on social media,but for someone on low income – it is big and it hurts.
The problem is that housing investors provide over 80% of all the rentals
Most parliamentarians own more than one home. Why would Robbo upset his mates just for some poxxy poor people? The systems been found out. Its no better than France before the revolution. They have total contempt for us, its obvious now.
Yes Turkeys always vote for…Xmas…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/300310944/property-investors-dominate-parliament
One thing that landlords will understand and abide by is a tax incentive or disincentive. If they put rents up, increase their tax on their rental property(s). The incentive bit is, they won’t have a tax increase.
Increasing benefits will render Labour’s latest housing-tax-changes irrelevant.
” An immediate rent freeze to stop them until new renters rights laws are passed ”
Bomber that would be the intelligent thing to do but the Social Democrats don’t do sensible.
If there was to be an increase but no rent freeze then the money should be available as an additional grant for food and cost of living expenses that can be drawn on but available every week.
The money should be targeted for these things only otherwise it will come straight out of our taxes to pay these leeches additional profit on their investments.
Its time this economy started delivering for the many not the few and i think thirty years of enriching scumbags like landlords and and Aussie shareholders who control our banks would be s start.
So……welfare beneficiaries will be able to have a family meal out at McDonalds (sadly $50 will just cover this) following the budget. Yay – i’m sure that will fix things.
As for the rent freezes if only that was a sliver bullet.
This government thinks by increasing the cost of investors they’ll magically solve a supply-based crisis. It won’t and like all businesses those increased costs will be passed onto to end users and then ignored in any inflation-based analysis.
And you believe less costs on landlords will result in a decrease in rents, that’s why your ideology is flawed. Rent will increase because of greedy scum lords because they can.
Rent caps for emergency housing?
The state paid $1300 a week for a room in emergency housing where a boy was murdered, but what did it do to keep him safe?
Nope no rent caps for emergency housing???
Yep, Labour and Greens are determined like the Natz to destroy private rentals and make taxpayers pay double for emergency housing solutions and tenants have even less quality of rental.
It Sucks!
Also sucks that the left who purport to speak for renters, can’t work out that when private landlords leave the industry, a business led monopoly of poorer quality outcomes at double the costs will become the default standard or rental for the poor.
Was the student body not found at Canterbury for weeks not a wake up call for business led housing solutions???
How many more people are going to die in these situations?
We used to have private rentals where people had their own gardens to tend. This article shows two things, one is that migrants coming to NZ will end up in community housing as pensioners and compete with community housing NZ needs, and that putting many people together in flats/rooms with a community housing umbrella, does not solve problems.
Christchurch social housing tenant’s award-winning vegetable garden ripped up
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/125163632/christchurch-social-housing-tenants-awardwinning-vegetable-garden-ripped-up
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