After four years of Labour-led governments we have stories like this in the tens of thousands!
I’m sure you have heard many, many stories of woe, and I wouldn’t want to pile on what you already have or know, but, I guess maybe the more stories, real people stories the better, so I will give you some of my prospective remembering. This is the shorter ended version, and I don’t need you to fix it, but words have power as they say. That being said this is what I have seen.
I was given notice the day my husband died of cancer, in fact ten minutes after he passed. I stayed with a friend until it was no longer viable.
I was given a hotel room the same day I asked WINZ for help (fantastic)
The hotel owner via his own admissions was a meth addict and so were some of the tenants. As a result of having to deal with his coming into my room in the middle of the night, his yelling and straight abuse, I had a nervous breakdown and ended up in hospital after a suicide attempt.
The social worker in hospital and myself laid a complaint to WINZ.
I was abused through texts after this via the owner, had my locks changed and refused entry to retrieve my gear.
Winz told me that I was not allowed to book another hotel because I was the issue, said they would investigate, but, this hotel is still taking in tennant’s through WINZ, even after mounting evidence from many previous tenants.
Some of these tenants have had their babies whist still in motels.
Now I am in transitional housing through _____ (social housing provider).
We do not have our own household items and are not allowed our pets here. Whist it’s better than the streets, we have had to pay for storage whilst homeless, dog or cat watches. I have gym gear here for my mental health and have been asked to move it into storage (I have refused) I have been accused of having my family live with me when they were visiting the same day as an inspection.
The rents in this area (Woolston/Linwood in Christchurch) are for a 3 bedroom from $450 up, those that are $450 are short lease – most being a year as it’s a pull-down job.
Some I look at aren’t even cleaning the black mould off walls and why care to anyway because someone will rent it right?
I am so blessed and so lucky John to have a beautiful clean dry unit provided to me while I look for a rental, but, John, this is straight up killing me.
This is the reality of being homeless, I am hearing some people have waited up to 2 even 3 or 4 years for state housing.
This is where we are at. If any of this helps you via sharing some of it you are most welcome, motels are no place to raise kids. Transit housing is still soul destroying. The government has to, HAS TO, fix this housing crisis. Some of us won’t make it through for too much longer.
That is a bit of my story. Thank you for reading.
Is anybody in Labour listening?
Or is Labour’s first priority still to look after middle-class landlords by refusing to adopt an industrial scale state house building programme?
Sign the petition here www.alternativeaotearoa.nz
I do not usually agree with much of John Minto thinking but good on him for keeping the blowtorch on this Labour government. I am sure many that have supported Labour in the past are shaking their heads in disbelief of their actions of late.
Many of these events are carried out in the governments name by faceless so called public servants but it falls to their political masters to keep them in line . Where is this leadership ? The list of failed ministers is large and at some stage Jacinda needs to show some metal and kick arse instead of trying to smile her may out of troublesome media interviews
In answer to your two questions John….
1. Labours phone seems to be off the hook in both directions!
It is more than sad, it is tragic what has happened to what used to be (pre 1984) a left wing Party.
2.Yes, they will continue to pander the Middle through poll driven decisions to get re-elected.
If Labour don’t change their current course I predict a landslide to National to be able to govern on its own and not need Act.
As much as I abhor National, and will never support any right wing party, I must admit I am surprised how well Luxon has greased his way in to being accepted and has become very media savy.
AS Dick Dastardly was so good at saying “Do something Muttley”. Wake up Labour.
Actually the leftie woke have just as much to blame for NZ’s high prices and growing homelessness, because they believed the mantra of build, build, build more houses and it was a supply led problem not a demand led problem.
Labeen (liked the Natz before them) stopped everything, deregulated the zoning laws, allowed people traffickers to bring in thousands of migrant labourers without jobs who could not speak the language and often paid a lot of money to come to NZ (inspire of knowing there was a big problem government still allowed hundreds of thousands of these work or student visas), then without work the woke demanded everyone stay in NZ instead of prosecuting the people traffickers and stopping the practise and compensating the migrant workers from the proceeds of crime of the people traffickers.
Now we have plenty of warm, dry, new houses. Problem is nobody can afford them apart from rich first home buyers from overseas!
Apartment 2 beds, 2 baths, 80m2, 1 parking and Asking price $2,150,000
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/property/new-homes/new-apartment/auckland/auckland-city/grey-lynn/listing/3507840035
Apartment 2 beds, 1 bath, 63m2, 1 parking Asking price $1,250,000
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/property/new-homes/new-apartment/auckland/auckland-city/grey-lynn/listing/3498250626
Then there is the council rates, insurance and body corporate on top!
Before the woke got in league with the righties with ‘warm, dry, housing’ mantra, people used to pay less that for a 3 bedroom family property less than 5 years ago! How are families supposed to live in 63m2?
Imagine what the rents will be like, (although on those prices who would be able to rent them out) but luckily being a new build a landlord will get a tax break on it, and it can most probably be owned by an overseas landlord.
Then there are all the people losing their life savings on leaky buildings on apartments.
Residents of Mount Maunganui’s Calais Mount Resort face $11m upgrade bill
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/residents-of-mount-maunganuis-calais-mount-resort-face-11m-upgrade-bill/INP4O5JFWDRDSLTIPZNMSJR4DY/
Between the multimillion dollar new apartments and the multimillion dollar repairs on the old apartments, NZ renters via government paying for it, seem to be paying even more for emergency housing or motels.
Sadly the woke cancelled everything on a whim as they hated the middle class so much, and without much of plan seemed to have created a much bigger problem.
The woke got their way, and cancelled the affordable family home as it was not good enough for their woke sensibilities.
Now the richest developers are buying up South Auckland – they finished making the rest of Auckland unaffordable!
‘Lockdown project’: NZ’s richest man Graeme Hart starts on Auckland house-buying spree
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/lockdown-project-nzs-richest-man-graeme-hart-starts-on-auckland-house-buying-spree/GJTJX2BUJQCWQGKAP7BBCMG5WY/
Woke sacrifice, butter up the community works a treat.
New Zealand’s richest person donates fishing boats, tractors and food to Tonga
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/127796079/new-zealands-richest-person-donates-fishing-boats-tractors-and-food-to-tonga
The sad thing about NZ is that the majority of rich people born here seem to be asset strippers from the 1980’s or inherited their wealth, we don’t seem to be encouraging wealthy business who create and increase large high value NZ businesses and high value jobs… instead traditionally they create value from tightening up NZ wages, removing high paid jobs in NZ and profiteering.
Then there are all the other ‘NZ’ developers joining forces with government figures.
Stonewood Homes And Key Family Join Forces In $100M Capital Raising Venture
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2202/S00298/stonewood-homes-and-key-family-join-forces-in-100m-capital-raising-venture.htm
I’m sure these strategies will be winners for middle, working and poor NZ! (Sarcasm). They are already winning with record apartment and mansion prices!
I presume Hart will leave his 9 homes recently purchased….empty.
Seems to be the m.o of most wealthy…landbankers.
Better be careful John, you’re coming dangerously close to showing sympathy for the homeless AND motel dwellers.
Don’t you know these hateful, extreme-right racists are the minority and as such don’t matter?
Rent freezes and controls.
Yes.
If all rental properties were owned freehold by their owners, then I think rents would probably be lower. The trouble is that too many landlords, who don’t have money to invest, or own freehold properties available for renting, are borrowing in order to get into the market; and that interest and mortgage payments generally are getting built into the rents that landlords charge.
FOMO inspired greed seems rampant.
That’s a good point mikesh – The Australian banks with their flexible credit limits are making big quids while our basic resources, in this case housing., become playthings on a monopoly board, on-line mobile version.
And who loses out if there was a Savings and Loan USA bank flop? There has been granted here by our government, the right for all of our banks to dip into our savings accounts to help the bank keep afloat at a time of a bank run etc – I think. A link to that should be forthcoming but I have to get some other work done.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sl-crisis.asp
This is a summary of S&L USA.
…Key to the S&L crisis was a mismatch of regulations to market conditions, speculation, moral hazard brought about by the combination of taxpayer guarantees along with deregulation, as well as outright corruption and fraud, and the implementation of greatly slackened and broadened lending standards that led desperate banks to take far too much risk balanced by far too little capital on hand.