Waatea News Column: Jacinda & Grant protect Landlords but what about Renters?
The enormous help this Government has managed to extend to property speculators and homeowners with a mortgage-free holiday is wonderful and necessary, but where is the aid for Renters?
The Government has announced a rent freeze that means no increase of rent during the lockdown and Landlords can only evict anyone who hasn’t paid rent for 60 days, yet evidence suggests a surge in bad faith Landlords threatening tenants with eviction and rent increases.
It is unacceptable in the extreme that renters are feeling frightened and threatened in a time of pandemic lockdown.
These are human beings, not cash cows to milk and abuse because of an event out of their control.
The Government needs to go further than the Rent freeze because it is abundantly clear that the moment the lockdown ends there is a large group of Landlords who will immediately start eviction notices against Tenants who have fallen behind in rent.
I am sure there are good Landlords, but there are clearly bad ones as well and we must not risk another outbreak of the virus by a sudden jump in tenants being forced onto the street because of greedy Landlords.
The Government has responded well for the lockdown, but renters will need protection beyond the lockdown from Landlords who care about nothing more than their money.
First published on Waatea News.
At least they had the decency to impose at rent freeze. During the early stages of the Canterbury EQs, various church, community and welfare groups pleaded with the government to adoot such measures, as it was a serious concern with so many unlivable homes and an influx of workers. As usual, National did nothing. Rents soared, people resorted to living in garages and caravans, even tents. Others just gave up and left the city. Dim wit Brownlee and Nats didn’t care one knob of goat shit about the disadvantaged in a disaster.
So damn true and up to 100 plus people queuing for one flat.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, every Russian family took lawful possession of the former state property in which they lived. In effect, after 70 years of State Capitalism, a kind of mass “Jubilee” was triggered, and all State property, at least the houses and apartments reverted back to the People. While many horrors yet awaited the long-suffering Russian Worker during that time, homelessness was not one of them.
Anyone who does not understand that we are now experiencing a slow-motion systemic collapse the equal of what the Soviet Union experienced is simply in denial. 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment last week, smashing the previous record set during the Great Depression. China cannot restart its economy; even if the factories could resume production without rekindling the virus, the global export orders have disappeared. Globalism is finished.
With literally every aspect of the global economy affected, it will be impossible to avoid mass defaults. Must we wait till all of the Landlords are in court for mortgage defaults, and all of their tenants are in court for rent defaults before accepting that the system is irretrievably broken? Because that day is definitely coming.
In the ancient world, it appears the prospect of this kind of collapse was averted by doing a full reset every 50 years. The Jubilee cleared all debts; all goods, land etc became the property of whomever possessed it at the time. All disputes were settled, all books closed, and most of societies inequalities were thereby redressed. The economy could get a fresh start.
The worst of our present crisis has not even begun. When we come out of lockdown and attempt to resume our previous lives in three months time, the actual extent of the collapse will become shockingly apparent. Just as 3 months ago, calling a full nation-wide lockdown was unthinkable, so today, it will seem like a Jubilee is likewise unthinkable. But not only must we do it, we will do it, and gladly; the entire globe will default on its debt regardless – at least with a Global Debt Jubilee, we have a chance of controlling the slide, and limiting the chaos.
In 3 months, calling a Jubilee will be the only viable option. Yes, it will be fought. But if we do not call a Jubilee, if we continue to spare the creditors of our society any pain or inconvenience while demanding every other member of society take the food from their children’s mouths if they must to pay in full, it will end in tears, and not for the Working Class, if history is any guide. The last collapse of this nature lead to a World War.
Only a Global Debt Jubilee offers us any hope of recovering from the collapse we are facing and restarting our economy.