Housing – Integrated response to housing crisis needed, says PSA

The PSA calls on the government to urgently re-think its response to the housing crisis, and to fund and implement an integrated approach to housing, community and infrastructure. A massive investment is needed, but if government does not spend the money now, the cost will be passed on to future generations.

Benedict Ferguson, PSA president says, “We have over 80,000 members who work in every single community in Aotearoa New Zealand. They know exactly what it will take to build a healthy and thriving society. Affordable housing is fundamental to our quality of life. All New Zealanders should have secure, warm, dry, energy-efficient housing. No questions.”

“We need a plan for communities that does not rely on the sale of Crown land into private ownership to fund state housing. Homes for whānau should not be at the expense of future Treaty settlements.”

“We need to agree, once and for all, that public/private partnerships do not work. Mahi this important must be funded directly by government,” Benedict says.

“And finally, we need an integrated approach to housing. We need to build communities, not just homes, and they must be properly supported by internet connections, social services, libraries, pools, public transport, water and waste pipes and all the other things that turn houses into homes and suburbs into communities.”