COMMUNITY SPIRIT
It’s an inalienable human right – the right to housing. Articulated in key United Nations human rights documents, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it’s also long been seen as a right that governments have a duty to ensure and provide for.
Yet in recent years in New Zealand there’s no escaping the visible rise in the number of homeless people sleeping rough. There’s no avoiding the tales of people desperately searching for safe and adequate accommodation. It’s impossible to deny the country is in the grip of a housing crisis.
The reasons for this crisis are well-recorded but, in essence, it comes down to a shortage of affordable housing stock. Construction of houses over the last 30 years didn’t keep up with population growth, which led to a lack of supply. But that supply shortage is heightened at the lower, affordable end of the housing scale.
There are both government and private moves afoot to address this issue and, encouragingly, dwelling consents are at historically high levels and the construction industry is booming. But truly providing housing for all is more complex than that, according to the Salvation Army.
In its latest State of the Nation report, it says the
