Labour was elected in 2017 and returned to power in 2020 off the back of a massive set of promises that they would solve the housing crisis that they claimed had beset the country under National.
They tinkered and clucked their tongues disapprovingly and their solutions involved piling on costs and putting pressure on private landlords. Their big policy, Kiwibuild, was an abject failure and continues to be an albatross around their neck.
Meanwhile, the public housing waitlist continues to grow, with most people having to wait over 200 days for accommodation:
The public housing waitlist hit a new record high of 24,010 in April, about three times what it was three years ago.
Newly released figures also show that while the list of eligible households grow, the time it takes to get them into a suitable state or community house has too.
The median time to house in April rose to 202 days, meaning more than half of those who got into a home had been waiting more than 28 weeks on the list.
The Government’s building programme has not been able to keep up surging demand.
Stuff
And what created that surging demand? Well, a multitude of things, but mostly private landlords exiting the market after the government’s law changes, and the huge costs piled onto those remaining in the market. Those costs were always going to be recovered from tenants in the form of increased rents.
Even Blind Freddy could see that, but the government continually said that it was their belief that landlords would absorb mounting government-enforced costs.
Stuff continues to misrepresent just how bad the situation has become under Labour, by producing a chart with all the figures in blue.
A more accurate portrayal would be like this:
Stuff is just being dishonest, and here was me thinking that Henry Cooke was better than that.
The bottom line is this. Labour has zero ability to solve this crisis. If they could have, they would have. The fact remains that Labour couldn’t build a house in a room full of Lego.
They will never solve this crisis. Labour couldn’t pour water out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel.
Time for a change.
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