January 22, 2016
Otara to Oamaru shift "incoherent and racist"
Auckland Action on Poverty is calling a plan to pay people on state house waiting lists to take houses out of Auckland incoherent and racist.
Spokesperson Sue Bradford says the plan unveiled by Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett is the latest step in National’s ongoing war on the poor.
Ms Bennett says there are houses and jobs available in South Island towns like Ashburton and Oamaru if people want to move.
Current people in Auckland applying for state houses can list two or three suburbs they prefer, but they are not given the option of moving out of the city.
Under the proposed new policy they would be told of vacancies in the provinces and asked if they have family in other regions they would consider joining.
Ms Bennett says it could especially appeal to Pacific Island families.
An incentive of up to $3000 could be on offer.
Ms Bradford says the minister appears to have suffered major plot loss over the summer.
She says there are unlikely to be the same work opportunities in the regions and people can expect in Auckland.
“While some parts of the provincial South Island have been doing comparatively well in recent years, the 2016 outlook is not great given the fall in dairy prices and the lack of any Government commitment to active support for local economic development and job creation.
“It is also startling that Pasifika families are deemed to be a priority target for the new initiative. Government usually refrains from quite such overt racism in its policy announcements,” Ms Bradford says.
“While people on the Auckland state housing lists should have the option to move to another centre if they choose, this looks very much like a deliberate strategy to push poor, brown people out of the country’s economic powerhouse.”
Ms Bradford says a better option is for the government to build more state houses in Auckland.
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