Housing solutions ‘on the table’

The solutions to the housing crisis are out there but political will is needed to achieve them, Labour’s housing spokesperson says.

Labour housing spokesman MP Phil Twyford was in Marlborough as part of a visit by the party’s health and wellbeing committee, which included a public meeting on housing.

Held at John’s Kitchen, in Blenheim, the small meeting gave the politician a chance to lay out Labour’s policies on the matter.

‘‘It’s our belief that this crisis is totally fixable, that many of the solutions are out there, they’re on the table,’’ Twyford said.

The Labour housing spokesman said seeing Housing New Zealand houses vacant at a time when 41,000 people were homeless or in severe need of housing was inexplicable.

The Government was ‘‘asset stripping the regions’’ by telling the state housing provider to divest and invest in Auckland, he said.

‘‘We’re not going to run it as a corporation and milk it for profit.

‘‘We’re going to run it as a public service with one goal, to house people in need.’’

Twyford said Labour aimed to build 1000 state homes a year, alongside its affordable housing programme to build 100,000 homes over the course of 10 years.

Where these homes were built would depend on how affordable house prices were in certain regions, although 50 per cent had been earmarked for Auckland.

Twyford said one metric was the ratio between median household incomes and median house prices in an area, which in Marlborough was 6.6, or very unaffordable.

Labour also wanted to stop foreign buyers purchasing existing properties, implement a rental Warrant of Fitness and work with councils to get them to set aside land for affordable housing.