Hutt housing

Congratulations to the Labour Party in the Hutt Valley for its success in achieving the reported social housing boost in Epuni and nearby areas ($7m housing boost for Hutt Valley, July 4).

The party has identified the facts for many years and campaigned tirelessly for action, for which National is now trying to take credit.

The new project is of the same ilk as the widening of one-way bridges in Northland before the 2015 by-election up there – porkbarrelling without a clear policy framework and dressed up as reprioritising.

The Northland bridges stay unchanged, just like the 2009 announcement of new social housing in Petone which the July 4 report confirms was never followed by action.

The local Hutt list MP Chris Bishop will try to put a positive spin on it, but his concerns about the decay of state houses in the Epuni area have obviously been ignored by his National Party bosses until it suited their wider 2017 election strategy to make Tuesday’s announcement.

Meanwhile real life goes on and real people wonder what all the delays are about. ALAN SMITH Woburn