FYI, our media release today:
Sole Parents Blamed for High House Prices

MEDIA RELEASE

A community group calling itself the Ministry of Men’s Affairs has criticized the budget for failing to recognize sole parenthood as an important factor in overvalued house prices.

Auckland spokesman Kerry Bevin said “We have almost 100,000 DPB beneficiaries and many more sole parents not on the DPB. This puts great pressure on demand for houses because instead of one shared property between the parents, two separate properties are usually required to raise the same children.”

“Children raised by sole parents are much more likely to become sole parents themselves. Rather than pandering to this never-ending trend by encouraging a wild west approach to subdivision and building, the government would have much more impact on house prices by reducing demand.”

Kerry Bevin called for more investment in programmes to encourage parents to stay together and for much stricter controls on the availability of the DPB. “The government pays people, mainly women, to break up their children’s family units rather than rewarding or encouraging them to keep their families together. ‘Feeling dissatisfied’ should not be a sufficient reason for the state to pay someone to live in separate accommodation.”

“Issues such as proven serious domestic violence or recurrent serious addiction may justify the state’s facilitation of family separation. If the government made immediate DPB available only to only those cases, this would result in greatly reduced demand for accommodation.”
End

MMA
MINISTRY OF MEN’S AFFAIRS
MINITATANGA MO NGA TANE

PO Box 13130, Tauranga 3141
Contact Hans Laven (07)5712435 or (0274)799745; or Kerry Bevin (09)4747762; [email protected]