May 16, 2016
Homelessness more than housing
Green MP Marama Davidson says homeless doesn’t just mean living on the streets.
Prime Minister John Key says official figures show there were 428 people who identified themselves as homeless in the year to March 2016, and anyone living in cars and garages should seek help from Work and Income.
Ms Davidson says it’s time the government did something instead of pretending homelessness doesn’t exist unless it takes an extreme form.
"Homelessness isn't just those living on the streets, it's all the Maori women and Pacific women friends who I have with children who are doubling up in garages. Renting rooms out at peoples houses, just finding it really hard to put down some roots somewhere in a good place," she says.
Marama Davidson says if the PM was to get out to the city’s camping grounds, as she did in Papakura last weekend, he would see families bedding down in their cars.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com