The Premium Debate: Subscriber views on demolished state homes and end-of-year stress

Ngāi Te Rangi hoped to relocate these state houses onto Māori land in its rohe but they were demolished instead. Photos/ Ngāi Te Rangi

OPINION

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Kāinga Ora apologised after demolishing nine Rotorua state homes a demolishing nine Rotorua state homes a Tauranga-based iwi planned to acquire for families in "atrocious living conditions". Housing Minister Megan Woods says the agency's handling of the matter fell well short of her expectations. Iwi Ngāi Te Rangi had been in negotiations with Kāinga Ora for more than a year over the plan.

And here, folks, is the example of how the centralisation of power (as in health boards and Three Waters) will work. Big central organisations work in silos so that one hand never knows what the other hand is doing. Central government has never been more efficient than local decision-making.
John K

Labour has spent four years accusing National of demolishing state housing and when the Labour Party does the same, the weak reply is, that's not good enough. Still waiting for Minister Woods to speak out on the record fuel prices as well, being one of her portfolios.
David S

I'd like an expansion of the words "differences in expectations". It often means one party expecting to get more for nothing than what is being offered. Under those sorts of conditions any competent manager will bulldoze rather than waste any more effort, time and money on an unviable proposition.
David B

I see a lot of the houses were brick. Not impossible to move but a lot of cost in removal and relaying bricks when houses like these get shifted. The upside is that they can have insulation put in all exterior walls very easily so would have made great homes.
Geoff H

In reply to Geoff H: Old brick and old timber. It's 50/50 that many of those houses would be worth transporting and if it ends up that after closer inspection they aren't worth the cost or risk of relocation. Who's picking up the bill to do the due diligence and various assessments? Just by my eye, it'd be cheaper to just bulldoze.
David B

Sounds to me like the deal was too hard to get together within a reasonable timeframe. They can't spend years on this, Kāinga Ora need to redevelop the properties so they can house people who haven't got any home at all, let alone a shack.
Denzil P

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Experts give their tips for getting through the final quarter of 2021 without burning out.

Covid-19 and the resulting lockdowns have made it feel like a very long year for some, but all hope is not lost. Photo / Getty Images

My wife and I are double-vaccinated. Our daughter and her husband are double-vaccinated. We live two hours from their Auckland address. Our daughter gave birth to our first grandchild a month ago but we can't go hug and hold her, or the baby, for reasons I don't need to set out. I know how I'd like to relieve the disappointment, the aching, the anger I feel when I watch my wife's sadness - and it doesn't involve sitting around singing Kumbaya and talking things through while being told to 'be kind' by a Government which doesn't believe in personal responsibility or accountability.
Gil B

Excellent list but may I also add - get out into the sun for a while. I find it easy, with lockdowns etc., to spend too much time indoors week after week. Even a walk around the house can work wonders.
Apelu R

Those who were born after the end of WWII are really the first in many (or possibly any) human generations that have never had to deal with huge-scale disaster, be it war, disease, famine. This is the first time many New Zealanders have had to face a global issue, one that can't be dealt with by us as individuals or indeed as a country, but one which requires hard slog, unanswerable questions, sacrifices of time and energy (as well as medical and economic hardship). Focusing on what we can control and maintain as individuals and families (think small) is important.
Leigh H

If you think about roughly 6000 years of human history, I suspect humans are in fact designed to handle consistent survival stress. Only we have forgotten this with the last 70 years of comforts (at least in first-world countries).
Karen S

In reply to Karen S: Modern stress is pervasive. You wake up in the middle of the night and it is there. Our ancestors had to deal with sporadic stress. Intense then over with. With no lions to fend off, it's the constant strain on our immunity systems that is killing people instead of beasts.
Todd M

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- Republished comments may be edited at the editor's discretion.