Housing issues in Te Atatu¯
Candidates for Te Atatu¯ agree poverty and housing are issues in the electorate with some going as far as saying it’s a crisis.
NZ First candidate David Wilson said Te Atatu¯ had both housing and poverty issues and they were ‘‘interrelated’’.
The main reasons were mass immigration and a lack of focus on the economy, he said. Wilson said the party would address poverty by ‘‘cranking up’’ the economy.
Green Party’s Golriz Ghahraman said the housing crisis and increased cost of living had made inequality an urgent issue.
‘‘It’s heart breaking to think kids who grew up in west Auckland can’t afford to buy homes in this area.’’
Her party had policies in place including building more state homes.
National Party candidate Alfred Ngaro said the key to increasing housing affordability was to increase housing supply.
‘‘We’re delivering more social housing, we’ve raised the accommodation supplement, and we were the first Government in 40 years to raise benefits,’’ he said.
Labour Party candidate Phil Twyford said there was a housing crisis in west Auckland and no longer an affordable place to live.
Twyford said Labour would fix the crisis with solutions such as banning foreign buyers from buying existing homes.
ACT Party’s Stephen Fletcher did not respond in time for this article.