Source: Alliance Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
Wednesday 23rd of September
The Alliance Party is proud to unveil an ambitious, modern housing policy designed to bring our national housing infrastructure into the twenty-first century. Alliance Party housing spokesperson and candidate for Palmerston North, Joshua Moss, said the policy was founded primarily on one overarching principle:
“Every human being has the right to a warm, safe, and secure home at a fair price. Through four decades of neglect, privatisation, and inaction we have failed to maintain or improve the provision of public housing. We will reverse this trend.”
The centrepiece of the Alliance policy is a five-year housing plan: a massive public building programme led by Kāinga Ora, alongside a newly established Ministry of Works, to build the homes and infrastructure Aotearoa New Zealand needs.
“We will clear the social housing register, while creating decent jobs in construction and building high-quality homes that last,” Mr Moss said.
The Alliance policy caps social housing rent at 25 percent of income, and establishes state backed mortgages and co-ownership models to help working people get into housing.
“Our economy has been reliant on property speculation for too long, but the commodification of housing does enormous harm to our communities. The Alliance believes housing is a public good, and will implement lending criteria that favours owner-occupiers while discouraging property speculators.”
“We won’t build a productive economy by buying and selling houses to one another. The state must intervene in the housing market significantly to provide a real reset, and encourage investment into higher productivity sectors,” Mr Moss said.
“It’s time we started thinking of housing more like manners at a potluck – everyone gets a plate before anyone has seconds.”