KiwiBuild

THE KiwiBuild saga illustrates the impossibility of keeping lowcost housing promises. The population balance between those who can afford to save for a first home and those who can’t is seriously out of kilter. Mass immigration of rich Chinese, encouraged by John Key, who got a knighthood for his opendoor policies, has permanently killed any return to the state house era when the State accepted responsibility for housing New Zealanders.

With a State Advances loan and statedeveloped housing suburbs, it was all plainsailing. Jobs assembling cars, fridges, TVs and so on covered living costs, the wives sewed and reaped, and families could have as many children as they liked.

What must be done now is to encourage/educate the masses to restrict family size. Such a policy will be condemned as ‘‘racist’’, but has anyone got a better idea?

I. Williams

Dunedin