September 23, 2020
Whānau Build – A housing crisis solved
WHĀNAU BUILD – A HOUSING CRISIS SOLVED
Media Statement John Tamihere Co-Leader, Māori Party 24 September 2020
Māori Party Co-Leader John Tamihere has announced a total solution for New Zealand Housing in an eight step programme.
1. Ensure that 50% of all Social Housing units be made available to indigenous people first.
2. 2000 houses over the next two years built on Māori ancestral land.
3. Immigration must be curbed until the supply side of housing meets the demand.
4. Vacant and or empty houses will be taxed to force them into the housing market. For example there are 38,000 ghost/vacant homes in Auckland alone.
5. The Overseas Investment Act must apply to all residential housing purchases as many of these ghost/vacant houses are owned by foreign interests.
6. The market will not deliver in time or in quantity. Kaianga Ora will be tasked with re-entering development and to build social housing on Crown Land.
7. Stop all sales of free hold land to off shore interests and faze in leasehold opportunities.
8. Investment in residential property will be taxed, excluding the whānau home.
Tamihere launched the policy at the Waterview site, where as Whānau Waipareira CEO he has just finished building 120 Social Housing units. This was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put Māori first so they would no longer be treated as second-class citizens, he said.
At a cost of $600 million – tagged from the Government announced $20 billion Covid Recovery fund – Whānau Build will allow Māori to build new homes on ancestral land, and 2000 will be built in the first two years.
“These houses will be funded by the state as a long-overdue investment that others have taken for granted. It will help in resetting and reorganising Māori whānau and Māori whenua by making available land for Papakaīnga and ensuring that our land is used in the best possible way,” Tamihere said.
Māori would also receive 50% of all new Social Housing rentals.
A ghost/vacant house tax – used effectively in Canada –
and a 2% Capital Gains Tax on properties, not deemed a whānau home, would alleviate housing pressure.
“It is expected this policy will free up over 50,000 houses and ensure that an asset class people invest in, but can never lose, has some consequences for the greater common good of our country.”
Indigenous First, the zero-immigration policy would also support the Whānau Build projects and stop market price gouging.
“Immigration must be stopped until the supply side of housing meets the demand side. Immigration is causing disruption and adding to the false elevation in demand and therefore elevation in prices,” Tamihere said.
~ENDS~
Copyright © 2020, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com