November 05, 2018
KiwiBuild middle class welfare
JOHN MINTO INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
A veteran social activist and Mana candidate says Labour’s KiwiBuild policy is turning into middle class welfare.
John Minto says a plans to redevelop eastern Porirua amounts to gentrification, forcing the existing Māori and Pasifika population into higher density housing and opening up tracts for a new generation of middle class people to buy in.
He says the biggest pressure in the housing crisis is on low income families, but they’re not the ones the policies are addressing.
He says it’s cynical.
"They’ll give lip service, they'll talk about housing crisis, but they're talking to the middle class about housing crisis. Families on low incomes know there is a housing crisis but they are not going to get any of this. They're not going to see any of the benefit from Labour's investment and that’s a real tragedy," Mr Minto says.
He says Labour needs to show political courage and vision and prioritise the creation of more state rental housing and schemes to allow working class families to buy their own homes, including buying the houses they are living in.
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