November 16, 2015
Rebuild slowdown leaves whanau in hovels
Labour’s Christchurch East MP says the Government over-promised and under delivered on replacing the city’s quake-damaged housing – and Maori and Pasifika families are among the worst affected.
Poto Williams says according to the Government’s own modest targets, 700 new state houses should have been built in the city by now, but only about a third of that have been completed.
She says the Government withdrew resources, slowing down the pace of the rebuild.
The greatest impact is on those who have difficulty finding houses in normal times.
"We’re putting Maori and Pasifika families up against people who have got a little bit more money, people who have other things on their side, and our families continuing to find it the most difficult. People are having to stay in really overcrowded and frankly really horrible conditions," Ms Williams says.
She says firms in Canterbury have developed factory-build systems that would allow a rapid acceleration of completed houses, but the Government is unwilling to invest in the area.
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