Indian Newslink August 1, 2016 Digital Edition

AUGUST 1, 2016
Half-hearted measures
destruct the Kiwi dream
HOMELINK
07
David Shearer
Last weekend, hundreds of young
Kiwis, couples and families,
queued at Open Homes around
New Zealand, hoping to buy a
house.
Some of them would have been saving
for a decade or more – but rising house
prices have them going backwards.
It is a scenario that is being played out
every week – young couples up against a
dog-eat-dog property market where, unless
you are already on the ladder, or
have generous parents with very deep
pockets, the home ownership dream will
continue to be just that – a dream.
Government fails
And still the National Government
would not admit that there is a housing
crisis.
The government has failed to rein in
soaring prices, failed to stop speculators
buying and selling homes for massive
profits, failed to provide temporary accommodation
for increasing numbers of
Kiwis locked out of even the rental market,
and failed to provide anywhere near
affordable homes for a new generation of
first-home buyers.
Remember (Prime Minister) John Key’s
solution for young families struggling to
get onto the property market? He said to
look on ‘Trade Me.’
Remember (Social Development
Minister) Paula Bennett’s solution to moving
people out of cars and into temporary
homes – she called them ‘Flying Squads.’
Affordable Housing
Labour, on the other hand, has a comprehensive
plan to tackle the problem
by setting up an Affordable Housing
Authority.
Its mandate will be to work with the
sector to build more affordable homes
and undertake major green-fields and revitalisation
programmes, as well as cracking
down on speculators.
We will also end National’s state house
sell-off and stop using Housing NZ as a
cash cow, instead refocusing it on what
it does best – housing people who need
homes.
The $118 million dividend the
Government has demanded of Housing
New Zealand will be reinvested into
building more homes and updating existing
ones.
People camping out in cars or in
friends’ and relatives’ garages will be
helped into temporary accommodation
through extra funding to emergency
housing providers.
Ineffective plans
The government does not have a comprehensive
plan – it is just a collection
of grudging half-measures that it hopes
might make a difference, but which have
failed to make an impact.
Their flagship supply initiative,
Auckland’s special housing areas, have
delivered only 1000 homes in three years,
when 13,000 are needed.
Labour’s ‘KiwiBuild Policy’ will see
100,000 high quality affordable homes
built over 10 years. Standalone houses in
Auckland will cost $500,000 to $600,000,
with apartments and townhouses under
$500,000.
They will range from $300,000 to
$500,000 outside of Auckland.
Latest figures from Statistics NZ show
the Government’s been missing in action
on housing. In the past year, the number
of new families who own their own home
grew by just 5700 while the number
of renters increased by twice as much:
13,500 households.
Head in the sand
That, along with the daily stories of people
not being able to afford to rent, of
young couples – and their parents and
grandparents – resigned to kissing the
Kiwi dream of owning a home goodbye,
of speculators making tens of thousands
a month by buying and flipping property,
paint a damning picture.
National is still trying to insist there is
no housing crisis.
We are saying that there is and we have
got some bold ideas to address it.
David Shearer is an elected Member of
Parliament from Mt Albert in Auckland
and Labour Party’s spokesman
for Foreign Affairs.
Law firm gets Rainbow tick
Supplied Content
Following a six-month audit process,
New Zealand’s premier commercial
law firm, Russell McVeagh,
has been awarded Rainbow Tick
Certification.
The Rainbow Tick Programme is a continual
quality improvement programme
designed to help an organisation ensure
it is a safe and welcoming workplace for
employees of diverse gender identity and
sexual orientation and demonstrates a
business is an inclusive organisation for
people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, Takatapui and intersex.
Great Message
Russell McVeagh CEO Gary McDiarmid
said, “It sends a great message to our staff
and our clients that we embrace diversity.
We place great importance on diversity
and inclusiveness in our workplace
although by going through this process, it
has become clear that we still have a way
to go on our journey.
“We are committed to building upon
this achievement and continuing to work
on making our environment a welcoming
place for all of our employees to feel comfortable
enough bringing their authentic
selves to work,” he said.
Becoming certified involved an audit
of relevant documents and the use
of two focus groups which were carried
out in the first part of 2016 and then
assessed against current international
best practice in this field. The focus
groups included one with a self-selected
group of Rainbow employees and the
other with a group of staff from the general
population and from a range of departments,
with staff from both Auckland
and Wellington offices taking part in this
process.
The firm’s HR director Lesley Elvidge
said that creating a workplace where people
feel free to bring their whole selves is
a key factor in being able to attract and
retain the best talent at the firm.
“While the areas of gender balance
and ethnicity have been the focus of our
Diversity Project to date, it was important
to us to extend ours to include LGBTTI diversity.
We have learnt so much through
the process of becoming certified and are
grateful for the support and guidance of
The Rainbow Tick organisation. We are
looking forward to continuing to develop
our relationship with the LGBTTI community,”
she said.
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