Gulf News asked Auckland Central and Tāmaki Makaurau electoral candidates questions about key issues affecting Waiheke. We will be printing their responses over the next three weeks.
Sitting Tāmaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare and Te Pāti Māori candidate Takutai Tarsh Kemp were unable to respond this week as they were attending a tangi.
This week’s questions:
1. The housing crisis is particularly acute on Waiheke, what would you do as our MP to increase opportunities for home-ownership, manage prices and ensure people can find an affordable place to live on the island?
2. A Waiheke Citizens Advice Bureau volunteer asks “what provisions do you propose making for emergency housing on Waiheke, given our isolation from such accommodation alternatives?”
3. How would you address the rising cost of living? Would you support additional or targeted measures for isolated, or island-based, communities where costs are higher? Eg petrol on the island is already around $3.60 per litre, and expected to reach $4 by Christmas.
4. An empty homes tax, or similar policy, has often been tabled as a possible solution to get more houses on the rental market – particularly for places like Waiheke where roughly a third of houses are empty for most of the year. Would you support something like that?
Full story in this week’s Gulf News… Out Now!!!
