Yesterday, Radio NZ reported:
Urgent housing need 'big concern going into winter'
The number of people registered as urgently needing housing has doubled in the past two years.
The Ministry of Social Development's Housing Register shows people in the at-risk category with severe and persistent housing needs have risen from a low of 1641 in June 2015 to a new high of 3422 in March this year, the latest available figure.
A further 1433 on the Priority B list have serious housing needs.
Emergency housing providers and support groups say government measures to tackle the problem have fallen short.
While the government can claim they’re putting more dollars into the health sector, all they’re really doing is wasting that money by putting more Kiwi’s into hospitals because they’re sick from living in cars or cold and damp houses.
'I think it's got worse'
The Council of Christian Social Services' Paul Barber said the people on the Priority A list were only a small fraction of those in severe housing deprivation.
"Their housing situation's regarded as unsafe or secure and unhealthy."
Some may be on the street, others were often in emergency housing, living in garages or severely overcrowded housing, Mr Barber said.
Clearly the National led government is just going to muddle along stealing a few policies here and there while the rental stock continues to decline and more Kiwi’s become homeless.
Thanks to a lack of proper policy and a government with their heads firmly buried in the sand we can expect increased social decay that will translate directly into a prison system that’s bursting at the seems. That's a good indication of a failing system that needs to change.
Despite the reality that there simply aren’t enough houses to go around, Bill English isn’t going to do anything about slowing immigration numbers either... mainly because National is relying on a false economy that has forgotten its moral values.
At what point will the people of this great country say enough is enough?
