Williams Poto: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Poto: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 20 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18108. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]POTO WILLIAMS (Labour—Christchurch East): Thank you for permitting me to add some sensible discussion to this Budget debate. I want to talk specifically on housing and the issues we are facing in Canterbury and on some specific issues relating to those of us in Christchurch East. When you have come from a base of having lost in the region of 10000 to 11000 homes; when you have come from a base of having lost significant land area on which housing can be rebuilt according to the current geotechnical information—that is when you are using current building technology of course—when you are unable to commence any significant work on that land while it is still unstable and shaking and the horizontal services are still being rebuilt in some areas and then we have got some specific areas with their own special conditions that impact on rebuilding such as the mitigation of hazards like rockfall or liquefaction and the like; when you have got those issues and then you turn the pressure up; when you develop a structure to rebuild that is accountable to no one but the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery; when you then develop a mechanism to allocate the work through the Earthquake Commission which has less accountability to homeowners and local people than the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority has and it charges for the privilege on the way; when you have totally missed the boat on the number of people needing temporary accommodation; when you are not looking at the patterns of short-term tenancies that then become longer term as the repair phase transitions into the rebuild phase for homeowners; and when at the same time you cut the funding to the temporary accommodation services by two-thirds—two-thirds—this intense pressure upon the rental market has elevated our rental costs and accommodation costs to unprecedented levels.Many of those rentals are in the “as is where is” category whereby cash-settled homeowners have taken the money not repaired the homes and let some other family that is desperate for a roof over their head be forced into homes that would not meet any kind of warrant of fitness standard. And we still have people waiting in the queue to have their claims resolved with the threat of cash settlement being thrown at them regardless of whether they want a cash settlement or not. Then there was the Budget announcement that the appropriation allocated to Canterbury to support the rebuild is slashed. We can add to that the 3K to Christchurch scheme where the PM  in answer to the question “And where are these people going to live?” said that they can sleep on the couches of friends or family. I can tell you now that a couch is not even the last resort for many people in Canterbury. In order to get priority A on the waiting list for social housing you cannot be on a couch or even in a garage—no. As reported in thePress a few weeks ago in order to make that priority waiting list you have to leave your cosy garage and live in a car. There are housing developments sure such asPrestons and Wigram Skies  but neither of those is the size or type that could be called affordable. So our people have been totally left behind in order to scrape together the slimmest of surpluses.So you might ask what should happen what should have happened and what we will do. Our people in Canterbury should have been the first option to upskill to take advantage of the work—Cantabrians rebuilding their region. How powerful is thatmessage to send to the region that you are in charge of the recovery of your city your town and your region? Then match that with the need to bring people into the region to support the local workforce. We will have a supercharged programme to build houses—100000 around the country but front-loaded into Canterbury—because the issue is one of supply. It would not be mechanisms that let the market dictate but construction on a scale not seen in this country since the first time a Labour Government addressed a housing crisis in this country. We will have 10000 affordable homes in Canterbury utilising the best in the business with construction methods that will see homes up on site within a few weeks. That will support our local manufacturers and suppliers utilise locally sourced materials as a preference and ensure that we use green technologies. We will build strong partnerships with the community housing providers increasing the number of social and State houses utilising transfers of housing stock and income-related rent subsidies. From the Government’s own figures up to 7400 people are homeless in Canterbury or are living in substandard accommodation. That is why we will front-loadKiwiBuild with 10000 affordable homes to be built in our first 4 years in office and why we will take an urban development approach to the revitalisation of New Brighton and the city centre.But we do not look at housing in isolation. Our economy needs to be one that supports development at this level with a capital gains tax and KiwiSaver contributions supporting investment in this country growing the manufacturing and production sectors to provide jobs—better-paid jobs—and taking people off welfare dependency. We will have a capital gains tax that will take the heat out of the housing market and Labour’s monetary policy changes which will lower interest rates. We need jobs and better income for young people who are currently locked out of the housing market by loan-to-value ratio restrictions and we need jobs and income for people struggling to pay crippling rents and living in substandard accommodation. Well not with our healthy homes guarantee which means certainty in the standard of housing in the rental market and certainty will be returned to those who need help with housing. The waiting lists are too long and the criteria are too extreme. There should be no one living in a car let alone young women with children and babies. There should be no one in garages especially heading into the fourth winter since the earthquakes. There should be no one still waiting to have their home repaired especially the elderly and those with illnesses whose homes should have been the first to be repaired and not the last. We will not mismanage the State housing stock while 5000 families languish on waiting lists.We believe that every Kiwi deserves a warm dry affordable home so that they can contribute to building a strong community life. We believe that all Kiwis deserve decent and safe jobs that pay a living wage so that families have enough to support their needs and so that our kids can have the best start in life be safe be healthy and be able to fulfil their potential. That is what they deserve and our country deserves to be able to build its future. Thank you.