A protest has been organised by Occupy Christchurch to highlight the

issues of housing shortage and homelessness in the city. People are

invited to gather outside Earthquake Recovery minister Gerry

Brownlee’s Ilam road office at 2pm on Saturday (May 26).

“Brownlee has stated that there is no housing crisis. There is no

crisis for him as he owns several rental properties in the city, for

others displaced by the earthquake and effected by the recession this

is certainly a crisis” said Kelly Pope, one of the protests

organisers.

The group is calling for building social housing to be a priority in

Christchurch and a rent-freeze on both social and private housing, as

well as a democratic process for peoples housing concerns to be

raised.

“We also want there to be acknowledgement of the real levels of

homelessness in the city” said another person involved “When Occupy

Christchurch was still in Hagley Park we became a place where the

homeless could come for food and shelter. The council voted to evict

us, and now they need to fulfil their promise to not leave people

homeless. Rebuilding and constructing new sustainable housing is key

to meeting these needs.”

Since leaving Hagley Park Occupy Christchurch has continued to meet

weekly and organise events such as teach-ins, protests and documentary

film screenings.

“The present commitment to state housing is not enough” said Byron

Clark, an Occupy Christchurch activist. “We need housing for more than

just the high priority cases. When someone is on a benefit paying half

their income to a private landlord, welfare money is becoming a return

on someone’s investment property, and that’s not how the welfare

system should work. We need social housing for anyone receiving

welfare, and also the huge number of people working reduced hours for

low wages”

Organisers are expecting around one hundred people to attend and

invite anyone who is interested to come along on the day.