this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
50 points (100.0% liked)

Aotearoa / New Zealand

1651 readers
6 users here now

Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general

Rules:

FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom

 

Banner image by Bernard Spragg

Got an idea for next month's banner?

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Xcf456@lemmy.nz 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't think it's surprising, but good research to have backing this up nonetheless. Pretty much every problem in this country can be traced back to the lack of affordable and stable housing. It makes complete sense to me that a state house with security of tenure comes out better than a private rental you know you have for a year at most (and likely less if no cause evictions come back).

Incidentally, the authors of this study have done a lot of research into housing quality too. They found that providing insulation grants for our notoriously cold and damp houses generated savings many times the cost due to less pressure on the health system and fewer sick days from school and work.

[–] SamC@lemmy.nz 11 points 1 year ago

Yeah, such as shame that most of the NZ population seems to be so hostile to these kinds of policies. They work, and make life better for everyone.

[–] jeff11@lemmy.nz 5 points 1 year ago

If the zoning wasn't regulated to benefit existing owners then apartments would be built, plus new townhouses, and these damp decaying places would be $100 a week. If there was an actual housing/rental market (you know, one with real competition, instead of a market that's propped up by government policy) that could work, but I'm not against insulation requirements. If they sent jackboot thugs to inspect homes and threatened to shut them down if landlords didn't comply, I'd fully support it.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

State housing is like winning lotto you get a house for dirt cheap. Of course you are going to be happier than the sucker paying $700 a week for the same thing.

[–] Xcf456@lemmy.nz 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

State housing is like winning lotto

Only because we haven't built enough of them for decades. This is why we should build much more of them

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No! We need to crack down on beneficiaries! We need less state housing! The free market will do a better job at...

Sorry, I can't keep going. I was going to end with a /s but I just can't do it.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Even National are promising to build state houses at this point, I doubt even Seymour would argue we don't need them.

[–] jeff11@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago

National said in the news this morning that we need to fix the COL crisis, because now people are stealing FOOD from supermarkets and abusing staff, and it doesn't get reported to Police because it happens so often. When Jacinda was debating this a few years ago, National said that people were only stealing electronics and tobacco (not food). We are living in a Bizarro World comic right now when things Labour claimed a few years ago are now real.

...Thanks National and Labour

[–] Xcf456@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago

They have said they will build state houses, but they haven't elaborated on how much and what level of funding they'll allocate to do it.

All their housing policy seems to mention is cutting the Kainga Ora land acquisition fund to help pay for their 'build for growth' policy (I. E. Giving councils funding for new houses to incentives them to be more accommodating to new housing, not a bad idea in of itself on the face of it tbh)

National produced negative state houses last time they were in government and presided over the massive sell off in the 90s. I do not trust their words over their track record on this.

Incidentally, when googling their housing policy to check this, I got this which isn't related but made me lol.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemmy.nz 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's amazing that people find this surprising at all, who'd have thought having a stable roof over your head would make you happier?

[–] jeff11@lemmy.nz 4 points 1 year ago

Also, state housing normally means they have the house to themselves. I'm not in a state house or owning, I'm stuck in a crowded boarding house with 10 other people. The group that I'm in always has the lowest satisfaction, I'll bet. Everyone is complaining about each other constantly, that's also how we make friends, by bitching constantly about "the indians" who never stop talking loudly, and complaining about the Chinese landlord ripping us off. I'd rather have a stable house that I don't share with others, like an apartment. NZ lives in the past. Can't believe we don't have apartments in the suburbs of christchurch yet..........

[–] winterayars@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Housing co-ops, too. There are solutions that don't require us to drag capitalists out into the street and shoot them!

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But that's the fun part...

[–] winterayars@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

You're not wrong, but having housing is also fun. Easier to take a day off work to go guillotine billionaires when you're not giving all your money to those same billionaires.

[–] schzztl@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I seriously think that if we want any hope of getting out of the mess we currently are in we need stronger local communities - co-housing could be a very real way to enable that.

[–] winterayars@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Starting locally is the only thing that works imo.

[–] KhanumBallZ@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 year ago

If anyone wants to put money toward buying a plot of land, and filling it up with tiny houses - with a giant community farm - I'm down!

The question really is, will our degenerate government comprised almost entirely of landlords do anything about it?