Roberts, C.
Government Housing Need Housing Schemes
Royal Commission on Social Policy, ,
1988
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This chapter starts out by stating that the provision of housing is central to all social policy, the central focus of the book.
Roberts notes that satisfactory housing cannot be seen as just another commodity but rather as a major source of security and wellbeing. Shelter, he notes, is at the base of the human needs hierarchy. This chapter outlines how housing policies in the preceding fifty years have helped low and medium income families into home ownership, making reference to the three percent thirty year government mortgages in particular. It then notes that recent changes have led to growing pressures, particularly for renters, which has created a growing group of people experiencing serious housing needs. As it notes, the government has a statutory obligation to ensure all citizens are adequately housed. Housing policy, it argues, has been inconsistent and vulnerable to political influence with a lack of adequate long term planning and a focus on the yearly budget cycle. Roberts argues planning should be based on a number of factors including population growth, household formation, and migration. He also notes that effective housing policy would involve long term targeting and monitoring, coordination across all sectors, special programmes for those most disadvantaged, programmes focused on improving Māori housing outcomes, and equal entry to a variety of tenure forms with adequate supply and stability. The chapter then provides statistical data on availability, affordability, and homelessness. It also has a section devoted to Māori housing, where it notes that land is a fundamental issue due to cultural considerations as well as broader economic and wellbeing factors. It also outlines the greater need for Māori regarding housing. It details substandard rural housing, overcrowded houses, homelessness, discrimination, culturally inappropriate delivery systems, and increasing social disadvantage is particular issues for Māori housing. This chapter provides both specific details as well as a theoretical insight into housing in New Zealand during the 1980s.
