Mike's Minute: The political divide on homelessness

There was a huge reaction to yesterday's Politics Wednesday segment on homelessness and move-on orders. 

Labour argues homelessness is up dramatically and there is nowhere for these people to go. 

New numbers released today show that simply, in Auckland anyway, is not true. 

Advocates working in the area tell us numbers are down 29%. 

Part of that drop is due to Government funding in October of last year to improve outreach, as well as the provision of 207 housing places in the Housing First programme. 

So, like a lot of other issues being raised as being disasters, the truth tells a different story. 

As I have said, Labour is going to lose the election anyway. But their growing problem is reality is smashing directly into their ideology. 

Their plan to this point, and it was reflected well in the Hipkins so-called "State of the Nation" speech, is to tell you everything is a mess, it's all broken, it's all been cocked up and is going backwards. 

The theory is if they set the mood right what they have to offer doesn’t need to be a thing, hence they have no policies outside their capital gains tax. 

You're in a funk and you vote the Government out because they have convinced you life sucks. 

Except the evidence that it isn't, is starting to arrive, and in some volume. 

Growth is up, spending is up, confidence is up, performance in schools is up, kids are actually turning up to school, large industrial relations deals are being signed so strikes are off, crime is down, and now homelessness is down as well. 

By November employment will have turned and the picture, broadly, will be complete. 

It's hard to compete against good economic news and it's hard to compete against positive social news like the homelessness stats. 

And it's really hard, and this is where Labour and the Greens are blowing it, against the wider will and view of the populous. 

On move-on orders, like the gang patches and like the ram raids, crack downs are popular. 

Defending crooks and drug addicts and trouble makers is not a vote getter. 

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