Big issues in housing inequality
Racist backlash over halal KFC campaign
''To the haters I just want to say: bless you and bless your family.'' Syeda Fouzia
The failing housing market is leading to stark inequality between the old and young and the rich and the poor, officials told the new Government as it took office.
This inequality is harming the health of Kiwis, the country’s productivity, and the Government books.
The briefings for incoming Housing Minister Phil Twyford show a 45,000-home gap in Auckland. Twyford maintains the previous Government intentionally kept the number secret.
Officials over two of the briefings on housing do not mince words, blaming high house prices for widening inequality.
‘‘High levels of immigration and fewer departing New Zealanders, along with natural population growth has seen demand for housing outstrip supply,’’ they write, pinpointing the start of this trend to 2003.
Both rents and house prices have risen far faster than incomes.
‘‘High house prices have stark distributional impacts: they transfer wealth from younger and less wealthy people to existing landowners, who are generally richer and older.
‘‘The substantial increase in house prices over past decades appears to be the major cause of the observed increase in wealth inequality in developed economies, and the ongoing effect is one of restricting access to opportunity for the young and less well off.
‘‘This flows into wider social costs, including overcrowding and homelessness, health problems, and poor educational and labour market outcomes.’’
Officials note that high house prices also cause a significant drag on productivity and increase government costs.
Even though the market in Auckland was flat to falling, this didn’t necessarily mean things were getting better.
‘‘Although affordability improves, falling house prices reduce the supply of new homes.
‘‘They undermine the commercial viability of residential development, because developers and their financiers can have less confidence of recouping their investment,’’ officials note.
Just over half of potential first home buyers across the country would have to spend more than 30 per cent of their income on servicing the mortgage of a modestly priced home, a rough barometer for housing unaffordability.
More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of potential buyers in Auckland face the same predicament, and close to a third of renters are already spending that much just on rent.
Home ownership rates had fallen from a high of 74 per cent in
1991 to 63 per cent in 2013, but the total amount borrowed for houses was at levels higher than prior to the global financial crisis.
The officials also noted that in general, owner-occupied homes were in a better state of repair than rentals.
They noted that New Zealand is hardly unique in having this problem, with home ownership rates Australia and Europe also below
70 per cent. A Muslim woman campaigning for KFC to offer halal options in New Zealand says she has received hundreds of hate messages.
Syeda Fouzia said that all Kiwi Muslims were asking for was ‘‘good fried chicken’’.
The Auckland woman said she was unfazed by the racial abuse and comments such as ‘‘go back to your own country’’.
‘‘We knew some people won’t like the idea of halal KFC. To the haters I just want to say: bless you and bless your family.
‘‘We are not asking for the whole supply chain to change, just certain [halal] days in certain branches would be fine.’’
However, David Wardly – an online critic of her campaign – said halal certification was a way for Muslims to ‘‘ram their religion’’ into New Zealand culture.
The 82-year-old said he did not know any Kiwi Muslims, but he feared the halal certificate was a way to introduce Islamic law in to New Zealand.
The Englishman said Islamic practices only had a place in Muslim countries.
‘‘We’ll enjoy your culture, your music, your customs and your food in your country. Not here.’’
Many online opponents also criticised the halal method for being cruel.
But according to the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ), the country’s commercial halal practices were in line with the Animal Welfare Code.
That meant it was compulsory for all animals to be stunned unconscious before they could be slaughtered.
President of FIANZ Hazim Arafeh said the Animal Welfare Code and the halal method worked together ‘‘perfectly’’.
‘‘In Islam an animal must not suffer or be sacrificed in front of other animals.’’
He said there was no hidden radical agenda.
‘‘Halal certification is not about bringing sharia in to New Zealand, it [halal certification] exists because New Zealand wants to export to Muslim countries.’’
Restaurant Brands – the company that owns KFC in New Zealand – had earlier said a halal trial was carried out in 2001, but complexities in the supply chain led to the idea being dropped.
Marketing general manager Geraldine Oldham said the fast food chain’s position had not changed and at this stage it had no plans to re-introduce halal options in New Zealand.
There were 46,000 Muslims living in New Zealand in the 2013 census, a 28 per cent increase since 2006.
Halal is an Islamic term meaning permissible. In the dietary context it refers to meat from animals and poultry that has been slaughtered using a sharp knife and specially-trained slaughtermen who recite a special prayer.