Social housing report overlooks the obvious
“The report on social housing compiled by the Housing Shareholders’ Advisory Group identifies many flaws in the current methods of provision but overlooks an obvious solution” said Stephnie de Ruyter, Leader of the Democrats for Social Credit (DSC) Party.
“The group correctly states that New Zealand is facing a growing shortage of affordable homes. The declining percentage of home ownership in this country has been widely reported, and the resulting pressures on existing state and social housing stock are evident” she said.
“In order to ensure that New Zealanders have improved access to adequate, affordable housing it is imperative that government investment in the social and state housing sector must increase significantly.
“Community sector participation and a wider range of providers as suggested in the Report will not guarantee that the necessary increase will occur on an appropriate scale in the locations where additional housing stock is most needed.
“The most certain means by which New Zealand’s social and state housing stock can be expanded quickly and without creating a new bureaucracy to deliver the expansion programme, is through the Ministry of Housing.
“Concerns expressed in the Report about constraints on Crown expenditure are easily addressed. The DSC proposes that new social and state housing be built and paid for using the provisions of our publicly-owned central bank, the Reserve Bank: that’s the same successful funding method employed in New Zealand by the first Labour Government to build the state house in which Prime Minister John Key grew up.
“It makes more sense to make use of the existing Ministry of Housing’s administrative framework than to establish new entities to undertake the task. And it makes even more sense to utilise the interest free money facilities available through our own bank than to borrow overseas and pay commercial interest rates. In that way, the construction of new social and state housing stock can be delivered as a public good to assist New Zealanders in need” Ms de Ruyter concluded.
Published: August 2010