Letters: Social housing needed for tent family

The Redding family have lived in a tent in Edgecumbe for months. Photo / File

Your correspondent, Brenda Green (Letters, June 15) poses an interesting solution to the plight of a family of seven living in a tent in Edgecombe. She believes they should either move into separate houses, or the children should be taken into care.

In an ideal world, social housing would be available for such a family.

However, as a result of Housing NZ stock being sold or degraded during the recent nine years of the National Party's tenure, waiting lists for social housing are incredibly high.

Moreover, as a result of the most critical housing shortage in the history of our country, rents have risen to often unaffordable levels, and landlords can, and do, charge what they wish, adding to rising poverty levels.

It is to be hoped that the Ministry of Social Development can step up and find accommodation for this deserving and courageous family.

Jackie Evans
Rotorua

Introducing 'fluid' athletes

A new, inclusive category of athletic and sporting competition is needed: the "fluid" category.

Then there'll be male, female and fluid. If an athlete isn't generally agreed to be either a man or a woman, they can participate as a "fluid" competitor.

If a competitor is a male and wants to be something else, fluid is their category. Simple.

Nobody wants to exclude people of varying identities, but a pre-requisite for any sport is that it be fair. That's what sport means.

Unsporting behaviour is behaviour that gives an unfair advantage.

Boxing is broken into weight categories because it's unfair to box below your weight.

It's possible that few people would want to watch the fluid competitors do their thing, but that's just tough.

Bowls never gets any audience either, except those people who play it, but you don't hear bowls fans bleating, do you?

GJ Philip
Taupō

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