Richard Prebble: How to fix the housing crisis
17 Mar, 2021 04:24 AM
5 minutes to read
Housing is a crisis in both demand and supply. Photo / File
NZ Herald
Here is why we have a housing crisis.
It took 133 years for New Zealand s population to reach three million. Thirty years to reach four million and just 17 years to reach five million.
We are trying to stuff an extra million people into the country. The nation did not build the housing or infrastructure for an extra 59,000 people a year.
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Planning restrictions made it harder to build. In 1974, when Roger Douglas was minister of housing, 37,919 new homes were consented. By 2011, housing consents had more than halved to 14,000. We are only now returning to the number of building consents we had half a century ago.
The Official Cash Rate will remain unchanged at 0.25%, the Reserve Bank has announced.
A statement from the central bank’s governor Adrian Orr said that while global economic activity has increased since November, “this lift… has been uneven both between and within countries”.
Orr said: “The initiation of global Covid-19 vaccination programmes is positive for future health and economic activity. The Committee agreed, however, that there remains a significant period before widespread immunity is achieved. In the meantime, economic uncertainty will remain heightened as international border restrictions continue.”
2.10pm: Former ZB talkback host returning to airwaves
Danny Watson is returning to the radio biz, taking over the afternoon slot on Magic Talk from Sean Plunket.
Progressive Home Ownership Scheme houses just 12 families in seven months Thursday, February 25, 2021 RNZ
The government is under pressure after having housed just 12 families under its Progressive Home Ownership Scheme since its official launch seven months ago.An additional 78 families have been contracted to the scheme, and another 25 families will soon be moving into apartments built in Queenstown.
Housing Minister Megan Woods said she was proud of the scheme. The National Party labelled it an embarrassment.
National Party housing spokesperson Nicola Willis said the fact the housing minister was showing off about 12 houses beggared belief. It s astounding to me that the minister has taken the time and money to put together a PR video spinning this when what people want her to focus on is increasing housing supply.
‘Every aspect of our existence is monetarised for big data to sell us more stuff we canât afford. We are alienated and anesthetized by a consumer culture that keeps us neurotic and disconnected. Our work, our existence, every move we make are all built to suck money to a minority class that sits above us while under neoliberalism, globalization, financialization, and automation, our existence as individuals has only become more disposable.’
Yep. The banks and corporations and opportunists love it!
And you only have to watch a bit of TVNZ to realise the intellectual standard of NZ has been pushed down to the 15-year-old level at best, and much of the time down to the 11-year-old level. That is the kind of level our elected representatives perform at.
Progressive Home Ownership Scheme houses just 12 families in seven months msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.