Harawira: Affordable Housing Bill
Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities
Bill
Thursday 13 December 2007; 10am
Hone Harawira,
Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau
The link between
decent housing and good health is
well-established.
Indeed, for centuries, the proverb, a
Man’s home is his castle, has represented the concept of a
man’s home reflecting his identity and his character, and
even in te Ao Maori, we say something similar:
He matua pou whare, e rokohia ana; he matua tangata, e kore e rokohia
The main ridge pole of a house will always stand; not so a person
But for far too many citizens of Aotearoa / New Zealand, and in particular for more and more Maori, the problems of housing affordability are rapidly eroding these longstanding values.
Mr Speaker, this Bill seeks to
remedy these problems by providing councils with the tools
to address housing and rental affordability, but for many of
our whanau, the low level of incomes, and the fact that many
Māori whanau have young children and larger families, poses
real challenges about suitable housing options.
On top of
that, developers are building larger and more expensive
homes, the “starter-home market” is shrinking, the
property price boom has seen the rate of home ownership
plummet in recent years, and today hardly any low-to-medium
income whanau can even consider buying a home.
Mr Speaker, I’d like to share with the House some staggering statistics on housing affordability and home ownership, which show that:
- less than 30% of Maori own or partly own their own homes, compared with 65% of non-Maori;
- of those who do own or partly own their homes, only 6.7% are Maori;
- of those who rent their homes, 67% are Maori compared with only 44% for non-Maori;
- and with rentals of $275 a week in Auckland and $211 a week in Wellington dramatically eroding the standard of living for far too many of our people, even rental affordability is becoming a major issue for the future.
Mr Speaker, I’d also like the
House to consider the critical state of available housing
options in this country, particularly in light of a national
forum held at Te Papa Tongarewa less than ten days
ago.
There we learnt that homelessness is becoming a
significant and growing problem for people moving between
temporary forms of shelter, for people living in boarding
houses or other inadequate housing, as well as for people
forced to sleep rough in parks, streets, deserted buildings,
and so on.
Dr Guy Johnson from the Australian Housing and
Research Institute, has analysed the frightening reality of
the homeless population and he tells us that 75% of homeless
youth become homeless adults, 30% of all homeless people
were first homeless in their youth, and that there is a
growing population of people who have been homeless for much
of their life.
The effects of this are apparent in a life
characterised by a lack of continuity and certainty, anxiety
about the constant search of where to go next, the
disruption to education or employment prospects, and the
increasing likelihood of exposure to violence,
discrimination and exploitation.
As a consequence of such
a lifestyle; physical and mental health decline, and the
impacts of isolation and alienation, are profound.
In the
land of plenty, these increasing levels of homelessness are
an indictment on our society, and a condemnation of this
government’s current housing policies.
I would also like
to refer the Minister to a very valuable resource published
last August by the The Family Centre Social Policy Research
Unit, and the Research Centre for Māori Health and
Development at Massey University.
Their study, Māori
Housing Experiences: Emerging Trends and Issues by Charles
Waldegrave, Peter King, Tangihaere Walker and Eljon
Fitzgerald, confirms the fall in Māori home ownership
rates, and catalogues the issues of overcrowding, inadequate
heating, and substandard housing, as critical factors in any
discussion on the status of Maori health.
We also know
that the economic conditions which we have regularly
profiled in this House have also had a massive and adverse
effect, on the ability of whanau to afford adequate
housing.
We also note that this Bill enables, but does
not require councils to assess the level of affordable
housing in their districts, and given the dire circumstances
surrounding Maori access to appropriate housing in Aotearoa,
we are keen to know why such an assessment is not a core
part of business for local bodies.
The Maori Party commends those councils for pushing for legislation to help resolve the desperate housing crisis we are in, and encourages local bodies, particularly those in and around Auckland and other high growth areas, to respond positively to the lack of affordable housing in their regions.
The
Maori Party urges the Minister of Housing and her Ministry,
to consider the vital need for policies that will actually
help house the homeless, and prevent homelessness.
And
the Maori Party urges the Minister to ensure that Maori will
be involved in further developing Maori housing policy
particularly around design and location, and the particular
conditions pertaining to Maori whanau.
This Bill is worth supporting if it will genuinely promote the provision of affordable housing to low and moderate income earners, and we will support it as part of our efforts to work with councils and other agencies to develop affordable housing policies which can be taken up throughout Aotearoa.
ENDS