The government today announced the latest part of its pandemic relief package: a six-month mortgage holiday for people whose incomes have been affected by the pandemic. Which is great, because these people are going to need help, and that's what the government should be doing. At the same time, it raises an obvious question: what about the renters? A third of kiwis rent. Their rent goes to pay the mortgages of their landleeches. And when those landleeches have a government-backed mortgage holiday, its basicly free money for them, a wealth transfer from the poorest New Zealanders to the richest.
The poor should not have to pay for the pandemic. Instead, we should have a rent amnesty to match the mortgage amnesty, and a ban on evictions. If you agree, there's a petition on ActionStation here.