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Minto promises CHCH social housing if elected

Author
Chelsea Daniels ,
Publish Date
Fri, 26 Aug 2016, 5:15AM
Christchurch mayoral candidate John Minto (Facebook)
Christchurch mayoral candidate John Minto (Facebook)

Minto promises CHCH social housing if elected

Author
Chelsea Daniels ,
Publish Date
Fri, 26 Aug 2016, 5:15AM

Mayoral candidate John Minto has declared there will be more social housing in Christchurch if he is chosen for top spot.

A Minto-led council will build a minimum of 1000 affordable council rentals during his first term as Mayor, he says. 

He said although charities supporting the fight to end homelessness are severely under funded, there needs to be an end goal.

"There does need to be more assistance in the short term in that direction, but we'll only solve the problem by the council stepping up and building more homes."

The council decided yesterday the Otautahi Community Housing Trust will have a team of 25 employees, who'll run council owned housing.

But, Minto said the trust will run into barriers if they try to build more houses.

"I think the trust is going to find itself hamstrung at every turn without having that council back up to be able to borrow money at much lower interest rates."

He said the only way to end homelessness is for the council to build more social housing.

The former activist said the council shouldn't feel pressured to sweep the issue under the rug.

"The Government is walking away from its responsibilities but the Council can't and we have to provide homes for everybody," Mr Minto said.

The Homelessness Inquiry Hearings will hit Christchurch this afternoon, which will see a panel of Labour, Green and Maori Party representatives listen to submissions about the city's homeless situation.

Tenants Protection Association manager, Di Harwood, will be presenting a submission today.

She said a main issue is funding and the ongoing need for a range of services.

"The struggle is around getting services in to help these people because often there's a multitude of issues."

She said often when people are homeless, they keep it secret.

"You wouldn't know that they are actually living in their car, or with friends, or they're in a garage."

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