June 24, 2013
Mana housing scheme for all
Mana leaders Hone Harawira says his party’s policy of government housing loans for low income families is not just for Māori.
The policy, which was based on the housing programmes run by the former Department of Māori Affairs up until the end of the 1980s, would aim to build or buy 10,000 houses a year.
Mr Harawira says he’s unhappy with the way the policy was reported on television, and he has lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
"Our focus in the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election is of course housing for Māori but 10,000 houses a year isn't of course just for Māori and in fact our policy announcement did not say it was specifically for Māori. We would love to build 10,000 for Māori, but if that were the case, that would suggest there were 100,000 needed for New Zealanders generally," he says.
Mr Harawira says the lack of a capital gains tax has encouraged the purchase of homes for renting out, which is choking the supply of affordable homes.
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