‘There’s no place like home’ on violin played in support of Caritas’ submission on the Social Housing Reform Bill this week. Caritas Advocacy Coordinator Lisa Beech played the violin as part of her state housing story to show.
Beech told the Committee how when she lived in Housing New Zealand flats in Petone, a long-time resident, a kaumatua figure, helped retrieve her precious 1840 violin when it was stolen from her car. He lived alone in a two-bedroomed flat and kept an informal eye on things.
‘From the perspective of his household, of his housing need, it might be easy to conclude that he didn’t need a two-bedroomed flat,’ said Ms Beech. ‘But our community needed him…. I hate to think of what it would have been like if our flats had been a series of unconnected households, rather than a community.’
Watch Lisa perform on Brook Sabin on the week in politics last Thursday (3:15 minutes in):
Caritas’ oral submission to the Social Services Select Committee considering the Bill also included the experience of a state house tenant from Christchurch.
Caritas welcomed the government’s increased focus on housing affordability and intention to increase social housing, Caritas Director Julianne Hickey told the Committee. ‘However, any expansion of social housing in the community must extend social housing by State and private providers, rather than replace it.’
Source
- Caritas Aotearoa/New Zealand
- Image: Screen Shot TV3