No Right Turn: One way of fixing the housing crisis
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation
Social issues
housing
The Government’s finances are in very good shape
The Government’s finances are in remarkably good shape. Who would have predicted that dealing properly with a global pandemic would have had better results for the economy than timidly dealing with it and trying to ensure that economic activity continued? But by international levels our Government debt is already low and maybe now is the time to spend on vital areas such as poverty, climate change and the housing crisis.
How can NZ incomes be lifted to match housing costs?
Not a vague let’s raise wages and benefits explanation, but an in-depth, number crunching, evidence-driven explanation. Where is it?
Tranquillum
Don’t expect a jellyfish to grow a spine, they just bob along on the current and keep moving, gently, slowly, kindly.
National’s gonna National
On two issues, pill testing at music festivals and tax changes to address the housing crisis, National yesterday indicated that it will do what conservative parties do and oppose any meaningful change.
The Speech From The Throne
I’m sure one needs a particular depth of political nerdiness to give a flying fig about such things, but since I am one of those, these are my highlights from the speech from the throne to Parliament this week.
No Right Turn: the obvious question
One in four property speculators aren’t paying the bright-line tax.
Time’s up Labour
It’s not possible to resolve New Zealand’s housing and poverty crises from within a neoliberal frame. Change is going to have to be driven from outside of parliament.
Capitalism’s end game
In Aotearoa New Zealand we are facing a new crisis. Not Covid, although the recent case of community spread is deeply concerning. The crisis is the value of houses.
Blood sucking leeches blame young for blood supply crisis
The Property Investor Federation’s executive officer has expressed the opinion that every time a first home buyer buys a house it makes the housing crisis worse.
Why Can’t The Ministry of Works Just Build Houses Like 1935?
We don’t have a government like the Labour government that formed in 1935.
NZ election 2020: Labour win is a watershed moment in the country’s history
The 2020 election was more than just a victory for Labour and more than a crushing defeat for the National Party (New Zealand’s main centre-right political party). This result marks a significant watershed in New Zealand politics which will likely have implications long after this parliamentary term.
Landlord lobby group hopes National Government will ditch warm flat requirement
The NZ Property Investors Federation has proposed to its members they should hold off on making flats warmer and drier just in case there is a change of government.
What progressive housing policy for renters looks like
Currently your politicians do NOT represent people who rent. But you all have a choice to vote for solutions that do!
Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Government: Style over substance or a guiding light for progressive politics?
Critics have dismissed the Jacinda Ardern government as being one of style over substance. This is unfair given the challenges this government has faced and the policy achievements it has had. However, it is a government that has much work to do if it wins a second term. And its over-reliance on Jacinda as party leader is a huge strategic risk, especially when the governments front bench is perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be lightweight.
New Zealand for the win!
$100,000 a year in capital gains.
What the Greens did
A round up of the Green Party’s achievements in the 2020 Budget: funding for nature, the commitment to ending violence, and public housing and insulation. And a look at the pragmatics of what the Greens can currently accomplish.
His work here is not yet done
Former Prime Minister John Key has said that under current conditions employers are going to sack 20 per cent of their workers even if the company is doing well and that employers should never waste a crisis.
Are the Vultures Already Circling Above?
We cannot go back to business as usual after the lockdown but can we shape the way things will be for the greater good?
No Right Turn: Ghost homes should be used to house the homeless
Idiot/Savant writes about empty houses and the homeless.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act have a few landlords threatening to quit the business.
The real cause of New Zealand’s failing housing system
Simon Wilson has set out in a Herald article historical data which suggests that the cause of the housing crisis can be dated back to decisions made generations ago. But Steven Joyce thinks that the cure is actually the cause of the problem.
National is not counting its chickens for granted
National will announce today that tax cuts will be a major policy plank for the next election.
Housing consents at highest level since 1974
Statistics New Zealand has confirmed that in the last year the number of new housing consents was the highest since 1974.
Labour Conference
It’s a weird moment for the Labour Party at Conference this weekend.
Goodbye shitty landlords
The only way out of the housing crisis is for the state to mandate the right to a home.
Dog whistling Housing Corp tenants
National has announced that it will put an end to a “state house for life” if it gets into power next year. But its rationale is not only cruel but based on a faulty understanding of the local reality.
The Government’s Economic Development Plan
Last week the government launched its Economic Development Plan, arguably late but with lots of useful initiatives.
The Greens on the need for rental law changes
Marama Davidson: renting has to be a valid way of life.
Fertile land is priceless
As Labour moves to protect prime food growing land around our cities, we should be having a wider discussion about food security in New Zealand.
Do poor people and women exist in right wing economics land?
David Seymour has written a critique of Deborah Russel’s review of the hard right economic tome “Economics in one lesson”. And totally missed the point of what she was saying.
Institutional poverty
Christchurch City Council have provided hundreds of social housing tenants with bubble wrap and a mop instead of insulating their houses.
Nats must hate Auckland’s building consents boom
The rate at which the building consents have increased in Auckland, and the shift to a more useful mix, has been incredibly fast. You can understand why National after their decade of failure for housing and transport have been targeting the authors of that success. It highlights National’s economic incompetence.
National offers to help with housing crisis
On behalf of the National Party Judith Collins has offered to help Labour deal with the housing crisis, the one that National is responsible for.
The Coming Global Economic Slowdown and New Zealand
With the United States – China trade war well underway, the sick chaos of Brexit is shrinking the U.K. economy and slowing much of Europe’s economy, and smaller economies such as that of Mexico in the crosshairs through further politically manufactured trade disputes, the second half of this year looks for New Zealand nowhere near as rosy as the first half.
Support Tax Fairness Reform
The Tax Justice Network has started a campaign to gain support for taxing capital as income to support and improve our public services. If you would like to support the campaign, you can sign the petition here or donate here. All funds donated will go to the campaign advertising.