National’s social housing announcement is nothing more than a plan to remove support from struggling New Zealanders to save money.

“Christopher Luxon and Chris Bishop are trying to dress up rent hikes and benefit cuts as ‘independence’. The Government is trying to balance the books on the backs of people already doing it tough,” Kieran McAnulty said.

“They’re increasing rents for 84,000 households by an average of $31 a week during a cost-of-living crisis and pretending it’s about fairness. You do not help families into independence by making them poorer.

“Among the people with potential to be impacted will be 30,000 pensioners, 36,000 households with children, and 27,000 disabled occupants. 

“People aren’t in social housing because they’ve chosen an easy ride. They’re there because rents are unaffordable, wages haven’t kept up, and this Government has made the housing crisis worse.

“Ruth Richardson tried this approach in the 1990s, cutting support, increasing pressure on low-income families, and pretending hardship would somehow create opportunity. It failed then and it will fail now.

“A whole generation of New Zealanders paid the price for those policies through poverty, homelessness, and insecurity. National is now dragging the country backwards and asking vulnerable people to pay for it again.

“National sees social housing tenants as a cost to cut, not people to support. For many people, this will mean more stress, more instability, and more fear about whether they’ll still have a home in a few years.

“After years of underinvestment in housing, the answer was to build more affordable homes, not punish the people already struggling most. Labour believes social housing exists to give people security and dignity. National believes it’s a line item to slash.

“New Zealanders deserve a Government focused on fixing the housing crisis, not one making it harder for vulnerable people to keep a roof over their heads,” Kieran McAnulty said.