Marama Davidson is a lost Homelessness Minister
This is terribly painful and frustrating.
As a Minister, Marama Davidson has been missing in action beyond her bewildering decision to launch a culture war against white cis men.
Watching her attempting to answer why the Christ so little frontline poverty money simply hasn’t been spent is excruciating…
Minister defends lack of spending to tackle homelessness
Of the $12.6 million earmarked to help fight homelessness this year, just a tiny fraction has been spent – only $900,000.
Now, National says there’s an urgent need, and money needs to get out the door quickly, but the Government says there’s a process to get through.
In last year’s Budget, the Government allocated $75 million over four years to fight homelessness, with $12.6 million set aside for this year.
But so far, only $900,000 has been spent.
“A year ago, the Government announced $75 million dollars for homelessness services. Almost a year later, just a million dollars has gone out the door, about 1.3% of the money. It’s staggering incompetence,” National MP Chris Bishop said.
The minister in charge, Marama Davidson, says it’s on the way.
“I’ve spent the last two and a half years working tirelessly with them to plan to make sure we get the money to where it needs to go, and that is absolutely on track,” she said.
She used the recent announcement of $25 million for Māori support services as an example, saying the contract won’t be finalised until July.
She told 1News that some of the new initiatives need time to be designed.
“We have committed to doing things differently, and the community has been very clear about that, so all the money is on track to get to where it needs to get to, but we can only do that with the relationships with the community.
Bishop disagrees, calling it bureaucracy.
“I think the Government is obsessed with bureaucracy.
“There are all these programmes, all these forms that have to be filled out. We should be getting money to the front line.”
Those on the front line want urgency.
According to the Salvation Army, homelessness is becoming a real issue for an estimated 3000 Kiwi families.
“We’re seeing a lot of people under huge stress around housing,” Lieutenant Colonel Ian Hutson of the Salvation Army said.
“We’re finding people coming to us who are still sleeping in cars – families and particularly people who are having long stays in motels and hotels, which sometimes isn’t the safest.
“Sometimes it’s okay, but it’s definitely not where they should be at this point, and so we’re seeing a lot of that on the frontlines at the moment.”
He says help with food alone is up 30% compared to this time last year.
…a 30% jump in need and not even $1million of the $75million promised has even been spent?
The reason why there is no spending is because after all the Hui’s the the Minister has partaken in, the loudest most radical voices at these events (fronted as community ventures using Millennial social media marketers to get Ministry social media budgets), demanded more time to create programs that envisage diverse multicultural pronoun friendly vegan cycling organic hubs and because it’s ever so important to listen to these lived experience community groups (as fronted by the ultra woke ‘representatives of the community’ that don’t represent that community at all), we have not in fact simply boosted the immediate budgets of existing food banks and homeless direct service organisations, because ‘we have to listen to the community’.
There are huge amounts of groups in the community right now doing the hard fucking lifting! Surely we can put direct funding into those groups right now while the identity politics consultancy groups build a bureaucracy that can fund their next mortgage?
Isn’t there enough in that $75million to pay millennial consultancies AND Food Banks?
Why not as an immediate stop gap set up City Shelters right now?
We are spending billions on Motels, Central and Local Government have a lot of inner city space that is going to waste, why not reopen City Shelters and fund them directly from the $75million?
Surely there is enough money here to actually do some good while sating the thirst of the new breed of identity politics consultant class as well?
This is painfully embarrassing and highlights all the terrible weakness of Greens.
It is because Marama is so weak that the Uber Woke Clique inside the Greens can openly plot to over throw her and James with Dr Kerekere and Ricardo and get away with it!
At some point the Green membership have to ask itself serious questions about the current leadership and what the Greens actually want to achieve as a Party because the last 3 years has been a wasted opportunity and that responsibility is the current Leadership.
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Any person with a shred of common sense could have spent the whole $75 million in a month. Call for tenders for 100 quality homes. Build the homes. Invite 100 homeless families to live in them. Housing First.
That’s patriarchy – Men building societies other men.
It’s so stupid. I know. Takes an absolute genious level academically trained University professor of the humanities to be able to get 75 million and not spend a dime.
But hey y’know. “Optics,” and “windows” and “overtone” form woke policy echo bunkers. And fuck weka.
Or perhaps that money should be put to whatever is needed to directly get someone out of homelessness, and bypass the non-profit industrial complex.
A very real possibility discussing the Greens post election will be purely academic.
To be fair to Marama, yes, totally missing in action, but the big money promised in glitzy announcements by this government and the actual rubber hitting the road are two distinct things, the second if which rarely happens. Think mental health, think light rail, various transport projects, etc.
When Grant claws back excessive taxes on fuel next month and doubles public transport fares to make everyone’s lives worse, just think of Chippys “targeted” assistance that replaces this to be just the same!
Slight typo there bomber
Hopelessness minister
There I fixed it
While we know that Bishop’s idea of getting money to the front line means that the government would be paying landlords more at least he is working for his supporters, Davidson does not seem to have a clue about who she should be helping or the urgency required to get a result.
It’s a shame we have to see all this ‘listen to minorities’ when we have so many on the front line just doing.
Salvation Army, BBM Foodbank, Auckland City Mission, Wellington City Mission, Night Shelter Dunedin, Dwelling Housing Trust, Project Moroto, Everybody Eats.
If I can find them in 5 seconds why can’t Marama give them something in over a year?
100% Rogue
Baubles, bangles, hear how they jing, jinga-linga
Baubles, bangles, bright shiny beads
Sparkles, spangles, your heart will sing, singa-linga
Wearin’ baubles, bangles and beads…
Meh…
It’s all Kismet anyway.
Chloe was debating Seymour on the telly and she wants to tax the top 6% of the richest NZers $2500 each to go towards poverty. This equates to about a billion give or take. Apart from the fact that this would only pay for poverty motels for a few years, if a billion was spent at the same rate as the $75 million allocation quoted above, it would take a thousand years for the billion to be spent.
The govt should hire consultants, they would go through a billion in a year
Yes that the answer let’s get more Consultants to advise Labour & the Greens and they will chew through the $75 Million in no time.
Shamefully incompetent.
Yes give it to the people already delivering.
If Grant gave her the money, surely she had a plan?
She had a plan ….. hahahahahahaha
Yes I meant “surely she had a plan” in jest
You would think $75 million would be enough to get everyone out of homelessness, but unfortunately when it goes to certain woke causes, aka has to be identity based etc, then the money is not spent wisely and then more woke groups gets more taxpayer funded fortunes that they tend to spend on themselves or stupidly, and not actually getting any homeless off the street permanently.
My friend who is Maori has people literally asking him if he is homeless and he is wearing a suit and drinking coffee in cafes! It is crazy, like they have all these people looking for Maori homeless but unable to identify anyone who is homeless (not generally in suits and drinking coffee in cafes!).
Woke are paid to look for Maori homeless but don’t seem to have a clue! Other Maori I know, are not homeless because they always have their whanau and maraes, free dental and a lot of other health care, is included in their treaty settlements.
Those who are homelessness on the streets are often because they are mentally ill or have major addictions and thus will generally be kicked out of accomodation if they are breaking the law with drugs or a problem to neighbours.
I believe that many in state care become homeless, so that is something that the state should be working on as they seem to be doing a terrible job at looking after youth in their care.
There are less homeless than people think, but there are many people at risk of homelessness aka living with relatives, in cars, floods etc but not much help for them if they don’t tick the identity box.
The woke think money is going to do it, but skills and a workable approach is needed, not the woke impracticality and constant talkfests leading to stupidity.
I posted how a 2 bed, 70m2 new build apartment in Auckland is 1.6 million dollars. This is the type of woke thinking that is completely out of step with the poverty they claim they are doing intensification for!
Just like approaching random, well dressed, Maori on the streets and asking them if they are homeless! Woke cluelessness are an embarrassment to everybody and seems more racist than helpful – maybe they can offer them a new build 70m2 apartment for 1.6 million https://thegreenhouse.apartments?
I’m sure you will find the rest will flow in a huge gush.
Shortly before the election of course.
I did warn you about voting for these narcissistic crazies!