We must challenge Nimby’s resisting public and community housing…
The article below highlights the challenge we have as a society creating housing for all. Angry local residents who do not want social housing near them. The response of many, as reflected in the video in this article, is locals behaving in a NIMBY manner if we are to be generous. One guy in the video reflects this brilliantly when he says it’s not NIMBYISM. Yeah right.
In case somebody asks would I put up with social housing near my home. The answer is we have for 44 years. Right across the fence. It’s been just a normal neighbourhood.
We all need to get behind Kainga Ora and Community Housing providers and support their mission to supply housing for all. Here’s the article: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/09/k-inga-ora-forced-to-close-community-event-as-locals-protest-south-auckland-social-housing-development.html.
Rebecca Macfie has written a superb series on housing:
There was a marvellous series of articles in the Listener recently by Rebecca Macfie who has written some challenging stories.Community Housing providers are unsure of what support for the sector is going to be after the election. Most people are not aware of the dire state of housing for many families. Rebecca concludes her fourth article below writing:
“…..behind the inequality, suffering and polarisation that afflicts Aotearoa in 2023, their warmth (of Marae and the Community Sector) reminds me that we have the foundations upon which we can choose to build a country that puts whānau at the centre, and where all can thrive: generosity, care and respect. Manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, rangatiratanga.”
Each of these articles are long, and in great depth. Make a cup of tea, sit back, and soak them up. We are very lucky in NZ to have a writer of Rebecca’s skill, and ethics, analysing just how poor housing is impacting on families and communities. We need to accept that for decades successive governments have let housing slide down the priority list. Investment in housing has received priority for individuals, not the collective which is reflected in the investment in public and community housing. The current government under Megan Woods has worked hard on this issue, but it requires all of us to be the advocates for increased investment over a long period.
- In the first of a four-part series on community efforts to defeat poverty, Rebecca Macfie visits Hastings, where locals and state agencies have joined forces to give children a better start in life.
https://ihaveadream.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IHAD-Articles_Hardship-Hope-Part-1.pdf
- In the second in her series on community-led responses to poverty, REBECCA MACFIE visits Porirua East, where a kindergarten group has blossomed into an all-ages health and development hub.
https://ihaveadream.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IHAD-Articles-Hardship-Hope-Part-2.pdf
- In the third of the series the loss of land is at the root of Māori poverty, health, education, and imprisonment data. But fresh efforts are enabling whānau to build homes, security, and hope on shared ancestral land.
https://ihaveadream.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/I-HAD-Articles-Hardship-Hope-Part-3.pdf
- Concluding the series, REBECCA MACFIE is in South Auckland, where a community-led approach is bridging the gaps between struggling families and fragmented bureaucracy.
https://ihaveadream.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/I-HAD-Articles-Hardship-Hope-Part-4.pdf
Bernard Hickey proposes UBI
He proposed the phasing out of accommodation supplements, working for families’ payments and other MSD payments in favour of a simple Universal Basic Income of 66% of the median wage for all residents under 30, to match the UBI for those over the age of 65.
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