Protesters want The Block homes turned into state homes

  • 05/08/2016
Protesters want The Block homes turned into state homes

Auckland's housing affordability crisis comes at a time when one of TV's highest-rated shows celebrates flipping houses for the capital gains.

The two will clash on Saturday when protesters turn up The Block NZ's open homes event in Meadowbank.

"The Block represents all that's wrong with the current situation in Auckland," says nurse Hamish Hutchinson. "Their focus is about profiteering and making money off homes, which I think is part of the reason there's a housing crisis. We should be making homes instead of seeing houses for profit."

Mr Hutchinson is a delegate for the NZ Nurses' Organisation, and says the city's skyrocketing house prices - now just shy of $1 million - are completely out of reach for the profession.

"A nurse is paid the same whichever region you work in, so Auckland nurses are disproportionately affected because of the housing crisis in Auckland."

Unite organiser Ben Peterson says the area used to be "a thriving community for a lot of working people".

"Now if you're a nurse and on an average nurse's wage, if you were to get a mortgage, even if you were able to get $200,000 together for a deposit together, you'd still be paying about 90 percent of your wage on mortgage repayments."

Protesters want The Block homes turned into state homes

Cast of The Block NZ (supplied)

Mr Peterson says he has nothing against those who make the show, nor the contestants who'll be hoping to sell the properties they've renovated for the biggest amount possible - it's not their job to fix the problem.

"It shouldn't be something you have to go home and watch on reality TV to see people doing up a home and having a nice place to live. It should be something everybody has access to," he says.

"We think it says a lot about society and the problems that we're having where we can pull out all stops to build a home for TV in a few weeks, but we can't seem to find any urgent action to deal with the housing crisis in Auckland."

Both Mr Peterson and Mr Hutchinson want to see the Government build enough high-quality state housing, so everyone - whether they could afford a $1m house or not - has somewhere dry and safe to live.

And why not start with four recently renovated homes in Meadowbank?

"It would be good TV if John Key turned up at The Block and turned The Block into state housing. Given the emergency nature of the situation it would be a symbolic action, but it would be real," says Mr Peterson.

"That's four good homes going up for auction next week - they're modest, but they're nice. Why not just transfer them into state homes? It's something that could be done tomorrow - or next week [after The Block NZ auctions]."

Unite organiser Joe Carolan says this weekend's protest will kick off a number of demonstrations over the coming months, with plans to ultimately occupy the Remuera Golf Club, where Prime Minister John Key occasionally tees off.

"There is something deeply morally wrong about a small minority in our society making huge profits from non-productive speculation, setting the economy up for a crash, whilst hard working people struggle to keep up with rack renting, never mind never being able to afford their own home," he says.

"Unions have had enough of this, and we are going to build a movement to solve this problem like we did in the 1930s."

MediaWorks declined to comment on the protest.

The Block NZ open homes take place at 97 St Johns Rd, Meadowbank.

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