New Zealand house prices have been identified as highly
unaffordable in an international study, with Auckland's
market only slightly better than London but less affordable
than those in Los Angeles and New York.
Minister of Housing Phil Heatley intends to ask the newly
formed independent Social Housing Unit to resolve the issue
of community housing trusts and their charitable status.
The Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust has resolved not
to appeal a High Court decision which upheld its
deregistration by the Charities Commission.
It is unlikely, even
in hilly and chilly Dunedin, a claim could be substantiated
for a historic philosophy of house construction based on the
position of the sun.
Cold, damp houses have been linked to everything from
asthma to depression. Yet many of us will spend this winter
in them, perhaps wondering how - with rising petrol and food
costs - we will ever afford improvements.
