Labour's "Progressive Home Ownership" - Just another Lottery scheme

"Progressive Home Ownership” is a lottery scheme failing to address the true drivers of housing poverty.

The Opportunities Party (TOP) says it’s time for the Government to start focusing on policies to bring down the cost of housing.

AUCKLAND – 24 February 2021:  

Labour’s announcement yesterday that it has housed 12 families under its “Progressive Home Ownership” scheme since July 2020 demonstrates how unprepared Labour is to solve our housing problem, The Opportunities Party leader Shai Navot says.

“Progressive Home Ownership is another lottery scheme Labour invented to make it seem like they’re helping, when all they are doing is distracting from the true drivers of housing poverty. Labour should stop obsessing over how to get first home buyers into the unaffordable housing market, and focus on policies to bring down the cost of housing” Navot said.

The problem with this latest announcement, Navot says, is not simply the low number of families who have benefited from the scheme, but that policies to assist people to purchase our currently ‘severely unaffordable houses’ distract from dealing with the root causes of this issue. “Progressive Home Ownership Schemes were never the answer to solve our housing crisis” Navot says.

Navot suggests solutions like build-to-rent could have the dual effects of both offering renters secure rental housing, while substantially increasing the housing supply.  Build-to-rent can enable developers to provide large scale rental supply, and would appeal to pension fund investors looking for somewhere to put their money.

“It’s time we start focusing on how to help our growing renter population, rather than creating a few more lucky first homebuyers” Navot said.