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RMA reforms … be very afraid

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:00 am, January 20th, 2015 - 97 comments

Nick Smith today announced proposed changes to the Resource Management Act. It is likely he will resuscitate the reforms that were stalled after Peter Dunne refused to support them last year. ACT’s David Seymour has said he will support the changes even though he did not know what they are. Treasury are to release a paper with proposals for change. Updated lprent – yep National stupidity reprised.

Where have all the houses gone?

Written By: tracey - Date published: 7:10 am, January 20th, 2015 - 131 comments

Yesterday it was announced that Auckland is the ninth least affordable city in the world requiring 8.3 times their average wage to buy a home. Reducing regulation hasn’t worked, otherwise more than 20 homes would have been built under the 2013 fast track accord. The problem is a shortage of affordable housing.

Thumbs down for Joyce’s ministerial domain

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:23 am, December 22nd, 2014 - 33 comments

A new report shows that Steven Joyce’s MBIE fiefdom is failing miserably. Meanwhile the MBIE is under fire for the major cost blow out of the Sky City Casino deal – another deal with Joyce’s imprints all over it.

Power poverty on the up

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:18 am, December 19th, 2014 - 56 comments

The government has failed to tackle NZ’s on-going housing crisis. Fuel/energy poverty is increasing, with a higher proportion of households unable to afford any heating. More Kiwis are renting than in the 2006 census, & more Aucklanders live in over-crowded households.

‘Ditch the [misleading] rhetoric’

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:39 am, December 12th, 2014 - 16 comments

On RNZ this morning PSA National Secretary Richard Wagstaff criticised Bill English for his misleading rhetoric about rises in “average wages”. NZ’s income and wealth gaps have increased in recent decades. The lowest income remain low; the top earners get big salary increases.

Oppose the housing sell off!

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 3:11 pm, December 10th, 2014 - 4 comments

A last-minute, urgent appeal from Phil Twyford – oppose the sell off of state houses – today!

Local Bodies: Government Responsible for Invercargill Poverty

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:00 am, December 2nd, 2014 - 6 comments

The second annual Child Poverty Monitor was released today. bsprout on Local Bodies on poverty and inequalities in Invercargill, “provides a good snapshot of New Zealand society”.

Save Our State Houses: Labour Party

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:26 am, November 28th, 2014 - 12 comments

Kevin Hague says, the government’s plan to replace state housing with “social housing” will make the affordable housing crisis worse & is “economically reckless”. The Labour Party have circulated a petition to save state houses from being sold by the NZ government.

Sale of social housing stock won’t save costs

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:00 pm, November 16th, 2014 - 20 comments

Hamilton City Council currently has plans to sell of its remaining pensioner housing stock. It already sold off a block of them in 2012. Of those sold, only 12 out of 53 units are available for seniors to rent at affordable rates. This is because 27 were sold as there was no social service provider able to buy them. So now Council want to sell the rest.

Nats’ economic genius at work in the property market

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:35 am, November 14th, 2014 - 45 comments

On Monday Bill English reckoned that pressures in the property market were “easing”. Yesterday’s headline “Spring house price surge in October”…

Social housing providers

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:08 am, November 12th, 2014 - 46 comments

Is Key planning to flog off state houses at half price to a liquor company?

Fifty year mortgages

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:22 am, November 9th, 2014 - 79 comments

Fifty year mortgages are here, and as usual the game is rigged against the ordinary buyer. Madness.

NRT: Wealth transfer

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:49 am, November 5th, 2014 - 11 comments

John Key’s latest answer to the housing crisis: bigger subsidies for private landlords! Subsidies to private landlords simply result in rent increases. It doesn’t increase the housing supply. But ole JK just likes screwing over young first home buyers..

Housing policy shambles

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:43 am, November 5th, 2014 - 30 comments

National’s sale of state housing assets and other aspects of housing policy is stupid at all levels. Which is probably why they are confused themselves about it.

Polity: Newsflash: Houses are assets

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:23 pm, November 3rd, 2014 - 34 comments

Prime Minister John Key, in his capacity as Prime Minister, promised no asset sales this term in the run up to the last election. But now they are selling assets – state houses.

The exciting sexy selloff of our State housing

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:18 am, November 1st, 2014 - 78 comments

Paula Bennett thinks that selling off much of the country’s housing stock is exciting and sexy and that the market and a group of charities will be able to resolve the country’s housing issues.

National losing the middle?

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 8:23 am, October 28th, 2014 - 133 comments

In its first term, National was very careful to be incremental – Key hung to the middle, chipping away carefully at workers’ rights without doing anything dramatic. Having gained the public’s trust by continuing (outside the House) to be a clown they’d like to have a drink with, they went with one big hit with […]

NRT: National’s failure on housing

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:54 pm, October 21st, 2014 - 25 comments

A year ago National rammed through special housing areas promising 9000 homes consented in the first year under it. Over the last year they have managed to build 5 and consented 294. Nick Smith fails maths yet again. This year 13,000 – yeah right!

No point in state houses

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:32 am, October 18th, 2014 - 75 comments

There’s no point in state houses. Not according to the Nats anyway. Unbelievable.

The housing dream

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 2:06 pm, October 14th, 2014 - 23 comments

The “Kiwi dream” is over – the housing crisis just gets worse and worse.

Cause of poverty and inequality found!

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:06 am, October 8th, 2014 - 36 comments

Good news citizens! The National government has revealed unto us today the cause of poverty and inequality.

NRT: A surprise policy

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:12 pm, October 7th, 2014 - 32 comments

Remember National’s social housing policy? The one they campaigned on? The one that talked about how much money they were spending and was all about upgrading and investing in state houses? Somehow, post-election, its transmogrified into selling off a third of the state housing stock. John Key lying to voters as usual eh?

Boots Theory: Numbers are meaningless when families are living in cars

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:59 am, October 5th, 2014 - 137 comments

There’s something obscene about the way the economic story gets framed: the figures on a page, the points on an index, the number of dollars someone can swap for a number of different-coloured dollars, when people are suffering.

Unaffordable housing & the culture of greed

Written By: karol - Date published: 11:17 am, October 4th, 2014 - 47 comments

Rental housing remains unaffordable for many. The problem is the greed of investors & speculators, supported by a culture in which housing investment is seen as a way to individual prosperity.

Bizarre attack on Cunliffe

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 4:52 pm, August 27th, 2014 - 48 comments

Andrea Vance has a weird attack piece on Cunliffe where she accuses him of not being hungry, not being able to offer instant affordable houses to everybody, not standing in the right place, and even sleeping.

Look over there! Tax cuts!

Written By: Ben Clark - Date published: 9:06 am, August 26th, 2014 - 7 comments

So National are both so out of ideas and so desperate to take the spotlight off their Dirty Politics that they’re now promising tax cuts. Tax cuts straight after we have a panel of our most prominent economists warning that the ‘rock star’ economy is going to hit the rocks.

Polity: Smoke and mirrors on housing

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 12:11 pm, August 25th, 2014 - 14 comments

National’s own fine print takes us from “you can get up to $20,000!” to, at best, “11% of qualifying couples get up to $20,000.” Ouch…. Typical National. Long on glitz. Long on smoke. Long on mirrors. Short on actually helping people.

Labour’s housing plan is much better

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 4:03 pm, August 24th, 2014 - 65 comments

National has announced its housing policy using Labour’s Kiwisaver scheme to provide extra money to first home buyers. But the policy will only add to housing inflation instead of addressing it.

Walking through the wrong door is the least of Gerry’s problems

Written By: James Dann - Date published: 4:51 pm, July 29th, 2014 - 12 comments

Throughout the last few years Brownlee has consistently denied that there is a housing crisis, despite almost every sign pointing to one. What we need in Christchurch is more houses, now. Affordable, well-designed, well-insulated houses. Lots of them. This is why Labour’s Kiwibuild scheme will roll out 10,000 houses in Christchurch in the first 4 years.

Polity: MSD dumps on National’s “net tax” nonsense

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 3:33 pm, July 10th, 2014 - 47 comments

Rob Salmond has been looking through the newly released Ministry of Social Development’s Household Incomes Report. It really is invaluable.

NRT: Fixing Christchurch

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:53 am, June 28th, 2014 - 5 comments

Labour has announced another part of its package to fix Christchurch: an immediate crash home-building plan. The market has failed, so the government has to step in. Its that simple. As for why the market has failed, there’s the ongoing insurance problems of course, but perhaps this also has something to do with it. Living costs in ChCh are exceeding wages and the construction industry is pocketing the difference. Labour is also changing the rules about exploiting overseas labour.