"NZ doesn't have to be this way" More homeless on Auckland streets.

[Lilith7]

Agreed, it does not have to be this way. It wasn't always like this, driven by greed & selfishness.


Perhaps our govt could prioritise housing for homeless people..yep, I know.



https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/5659...e-this-way

[king1]

and which dumbass politician said it was a lifestyle choice recently?

[Oh_hunnihunni]

There are still two empty newly refurbished flats in our village. We are told no one has applied to rent them, despite the rents being 'half the usual rent'. Since the government dropped the subsidy for new pensioner tenants in our flats, the newbies will be paying more than us legacy tenants. For the same very small spaces. They tell us no one wants to move in. They seem surprised.

Do they not understand we wouldn't be here either if we had an alternative, that wasn't under a bridge...

[heisenberg]

why is it the government’s responsibility to house people

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Because looking after the weak and the vulnerable is the responsibility of any decent community. And our community is structured with a government paid to make decisions about the weak and vulnerable, as well as the strong and able. It supports them, with grants and systems designed to let them blossom, so why not the rest?

[Lilith7]

why is it the government’s responsibility to house people

That would be because its vastly preferable to having people who often through no fault of their own, have become homeless.
And because traditionally in our country, that is what govts have always done.

But because we live under a system based on sheer greed, which does not care one iota about the suffering of others, we have homeless people. 

This system prefers to blame those doing the suffering for their own plight. Despite it being due to the evils of the system.

There are people who lack empathy who believe that this is a good system, because they are blinded by greed.

---

and which dumbass politician said it was a lifestyle choice recently?

That would be the delightful bashbashbash Mark Mitchell.


https://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2025/0...ss-is.html

[heisenberg]

and which dumbass politician said it was a lifestyle choice recently?

There’s plenty of homeless that choose to live like that, in a country where you can get benefits and plenty of organisation's falling over themselves to help, taxpayers feeding the children at school etc

no excuses

[Lilith7]

and which dumbass politician said it was a lifestyle choice recently?

There’s plenty of homeless that choose to live like that, in a country where you can get benefits and plenty of organisation's falling over themselves to help, taxpayers feeding the children at school etc

no excuses

Can you seriously not comprehend that in these times where we have the greed based Neo Liberal system, rents are now so high that there are some people whose wage is so very low as to be unable to cover both rent & food?

Anyone can become homeless if they happen not to be wealthy. As most are.

No one in their right mind 'chooses' homelessness.

[king1]

and which dumbass politician said it was a lifestyle choice recently?

There’s plenty of homeless that choose to live like that, in a country where you can get benefits and plenty of organisation's falling over themselves to help, taxpayers feeding the children at school etc

no excuses

confessing to a crime under duress that you didn't commit is also a choice - it's not so black and white as you would like it to be...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

why is it the government’s responsibility to house people

That would be because its vastly preferable to having people who often through no fault of their own, have become homeless.
And because traditionally in our country, that is what govts have always done.

But because we live under a system based on sheer greed, which does not care one iota about the suffering of others, we have homeless people. 

This system prefers to blame those doing the suffering for their own plight. Despite it being due to the evils of the system.

There are people who lack empathy who believe that this is a good system, because they are blinded by greed.

---

and which dumbass politician said it was a lifestyle choice recently?

That would be the delightful bashbashbash Mark Mitchell.


https://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2025/0...ss-is.html

Mark Mitchell, remember, was a private security consultant in Iraq.  My father would have called that being a mercenary. 

Kind of explains his built in attitudes I think.

[zqwerty]

He looks like a right winger.

[Lilith7]

He looks like a right winger.

His answer to everything always seems to be a version of 'get tough'...

[heisenberg]

He looks like a right winger.

His answer to everything always seems to be a version of 'get tough'...

better than the hold you hand out for some freebees someone else’s paid for answer

[Lilith7]

His answer to everything always seems to be a version of 'get tough'...

better than the hold you hand out for some freebees someone else’s paid for answer

Ah yes, the standard right wing answer. Heaven forfend anyone should help anyone else,eh..

[heisenberg]

better than the hold you hand out for some freebees someone else’s paid for answer

Ah yes, the standard right wing answer. Heaven forfend anyone should help anyone else,eh..

heaven forfend anyone should take personal responsibility eh... let nanny state wipe your arse for you while you suck on the taxpayer’s tit

[Lilith7]

Ah yes, the standard right wing answer. Heaven forfend anyone should help anyone else,eh..

heaven forfend anyone should take personal responsibility eh... let nanny state wipe your arse for you while you suck on the taxpayer’s tit

Heaven fofend a right winger should open their eyes & take a look at what's happening, comprehend that wages now are often insufficient to meet basic needs....but no, its always far easier to make a scapegoat group to point at.

[heisenberg]

heaven forfend anyone should take personal responsibility eh... let nanny state wipe your arse for you while you suck on the taxpayer’s tit

Heaven fofend a right winger should open their eyes & take a look at what's happening, comprehend that wages now are often insufficient to meet basic needs....but no, its always far easier to make a scapegoat group to point at.

wages have never been higher, what you lot seem to forget is add costs to businesses and prices go up and staff get the chop...more unemployment ..add costs to landlords and rents go up...more homelessness

increase the minimum wage and remove tax deductions ...you are all for that but it has consequence’s

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Yes, average wage has gone up. But it hasn't kept pace with the cost of living, with rents, with energy costs, and with groceries.

If you then put the burden of health costs or addiction on top of that then the situation can become dire. And the fact is most homeless are not there by choice but by disease, physical, mental, or addiction.

Or, because of the abuse of others, domestic, familial, or social...

I don't think increasing wages or removing tax deductions is the answer. I think equity is. Equal access to housing, healthcare, education, and most of all support networks. As the population increases so do the problems. We need a city mission in every community...

[Lilith7]

Heaven fofend a right winger should open their eyes & take a look at what's happening, comprehend that wages now are often insufficient to meet basic needs....but no, its always far easier to make a scapegoat group to point at.

wages have never been higher, what you lot seem to forget is add costs to businesses and prices go up and staff get the chop...more unemployment ..add costs to landlords and rents go up...more homelessness

increase the minimum wage and remove tax deductions ...you are all for that but it has consequence’s

But didn't you just say this:

" There’s plenty of homeless that choose to live like that, in a country where you can get benefits and plenty of organisation's falling over themselves to help, taxpayers feeding the children at school etc.


no excuses."

Which does give every indication that you prefer to blame those this situation affects most severely, rather than govt...


Neo Liberalism also has consequences.
This  very obviously deeply Neo Liberal govt is not even slightly interested in the well being of its people & keen to if they can, make things even more difficult for them - which so far, they're doing a pretty good job of.


As long as they & their cronies can continue to get even wealthier they don't mind at all.


People desperately trying to survive tend not to have lots of energy for much else. 
That is until a certain point is reached when they will eventually rebel. Perhaps when the first child dies of starvation, perhaps when the first person dies for want of now unaffordable medical help, or when that camp of homeless people becomes too big, sooner or later, that point tends to come. 

Just ask the Russioan. Or the French.

---

Yes, average wage has gone up. But it hasn't kept pace with the cost of living, with rents, with energy costs, and with groceries.

If you then put the burden of health costs or addiction on top of that then the situation can become dire. And the fact is most homeless are not there by choice but by disease, physical, mental, or addiction.

Or, because of the abuse of others, domestic, familial, or social...

I don't think increasing wages or removing tax deductions is the answer. I think equity is. Equal access to housing, healthcare, education, and most of all support networks. As the population increases so do the problems. We need a city mission in every community...

Indeed we do -  basic fairness & equality isn't a lot to ask.

It was NOT always like this & it  DOES NOT HAVE to be like this.