We all deserve an Aotearoa which is known for genuinely affordable, accessible, healthy, sustainable and beautiful housing for everyone. Public housing is one of the major ways we can achieve this vision.
ActionStation continues to team up with Public Housing Futures (PHF), a group of organisers, campaigners and researchers. Together, we’re organising a long-term campaign calling on the Government to address the housing crisis through a significant build and buy programme for public housing.
After the devastating Loafers Lodge fire, our Public Housing Futures (PHF) group did some quick response media work. We spoke to The Post and the Guardian to highlight the lack of adequate, safe and secure housing, which forces people into precarious housing situations such as lodges.
PHF worked with researchers and housing experts to come up with some clear figures on how many public homes we need to ensure everyone has access to safe, secure and genuinely affordable homes. This supported the launch of our petition calling on the New Zealand government to:
- Urgently build and buy enough public homes to house the 'true waitlist' for good, and
- Embed a long-term commitment to increase the level of public housing to 20% of all homes by 2033.
Alongside the launch of the petition, we spoke to the media to highlight the "true waitlist", which led to responses from the housing spokespeople from Labour, National and the Greens. This is a part of a broader strategy to shift the narrative around public housing and to engage in organising with communities locally, which will be further explored next year.