We have the land, so let’s build houses
It’s odd that we live in a country where we have an abundance of land and trees and yet we can’t seem to build enough houses to shelter our people.
We’re spending millions of dollars on motel accommodation for people who don’t have homes money that could be spent on building those homes.
It’s a paradox.
I fear for the next generation because our problems become their problems.
The Government, in my view, is walking a fine line between making sure everyone has a safe, warm and dry roof over people’s heads while trying to come up with a more sustainable solution.
And let’s remember, these are people. Not numbers. People who often come with complex and highneeds issues.
Children are of particular concern, being sadly dubbed the “motel generation”.
It’s heartbreaking to read of children in emergency housing feeling unwanted and anxious, turning up to school tired, unprepared and struggling to fit in — if they show up at all.
This is not what New Zealand is about.
Assistant Ma¯ ori Commissioner for Children, Glenis Philip-barbara, told RNZ recently that the Government needed to act urgently in dealing with children living in emergency accommodation.
She says Aotearoa is “teetering on the brink of a generation raised in motels — and New Zealanders could not accept that as being okay”.
Perhaps it’s time to go back to basics.
Labour has only to look back to 1935, when the party argued that only the state was able to fix the housing shortage.
The next year Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage created the Department of Housing Construction which oversaw the building of state houses, which had important flow-on effects on employment and the economy.
In my view, it’s time to forget about Kiwibuild. Don’t leave the job of housing our citizens up to the private sector.
Those decrying the so-called “nanny state” need to look at the situation we’re now in and
"Let’s remember, these are people. Not numbers. People who often come with complex, high-needs issues."
acknowledge that the state house scheme helped to alleviate the housing shortage in the 1930s.
Why shouldn’t some incarnation of that scheme work for us now?
There are some things in our society that should be left in the Government’s hands — that is, after all, why governments exist.
We need to remove the barriers and provide much-needed support for the building and construction industry by putting investment into training, freeing up land and untying red tape.
I don’t pretend to have the answers because the issue is deep and complex.
But in simplistic terms, we have trees and land.
Let’s get the houses built.