MPP optimistic about healthy homes for Pasifika

The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Dr Shane Reti, says promising progress has been made in addressing the housing concerns of Pasifika, which have been a longstanding issue for many of our communities.

But, the crisis continues to affect many families. According to Census data from Statistics New Zealand, more than 100,000 people are estimated to be severely housing deprived, an increase from 99,462 in 2018.

Among those who are severely deprived, 38.5 per cent or four in 10 individuals live in overcrowded conditions. Over 28,000 Pacific people in New Zealand are in extremely poor housing conditions.

The overcrowding rate in Pacific homes exceeds the national average of around 12 per cent, yet the overall statistics have remained unchanged in the last six years.

Speaking to William Terite on Pacific Mornings, Reti says initiatives like the Pacific Peoples Health Homes Initiative, a year-long programme to provide healthier homes for Pasifika in South Auckland and Porirua, “continue to deliver very strongly”.

He expressed encouragement from the positive housing reports he receives weekly.

However, he admits that reducing the inflation rate’s impact on the Official Cash Rate is a key driver of improving housing.

Reti says mortgage interest rates at major banks have decreased, which is crucial to helping more people, including Pacific families, secure homes.

"To more readily be able to advance into a home, or to reduce their existing mortgage, so that they have more disposable income to spend on other things,” he says.

Reti says that the Pacific Peoples portfolio includes specific objectives for house building, particularly in Auckland and Porirua.

“We are ambitious for building housing that is particularly suited to Pacific peoples and are very encouraged by how that work's going.

“I just want to shout out to all the team and officials who are actually doing the groundwork.”

A new approach to housing needs

Reti recently transitioned from his role as Minister of Health to oversee the portfolios of Science, Innovation and Technology, Statistics, and Universities.

He describes the shift as “the biggest reset of the science portfolios in the last 30 years” and notes that these sectors are being aligned to foster growth and help ease the cost of living.

“The Minister of Finance announced ‘the going for growth pillars’ of which one of them was science, innovation and technology.

Watch Shane Reti’s full interview below.

“So there's a lot of really exciting things that we're doing inside that domain to try and more forcefully set an agenda towards economic growth. It's an exciting time to be in the portfolio.”

Reti also addressed the recent resignation of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly, saying that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon faces “difficult decisions”.

“[Luxon] weighs everything up at the time and the decision's been made - Andrew's made a decision as well,” Reti says.

“Now we need to continue to move forward with the focus for this government, which is around economic growth and how we can ease the cost of living for New Zealanders.”