PHOTO: Housing Minister Chris Bishop. FILE
A Christchurch homeowner was stunned to see her house featured in an Instagram post by Housing Minister Chris Bishop, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka, and other National MPs promoting more social housing.
This post was part of a government announcement yesterday, revealing $140 million in new funding for 1,500 social housing places starting in July next year. The post included images of six privately-owned homes in central Christchurch.
One homeowner, Beth, expressed her shock at seeing her home on social media.
“I was appalled. On one hand, I thought: ‘Is this what they are presenting as social housing?’ But on the other hand, I thought: ‘No way, they are just using random images, so it doesn’t mean anything,'” she said.
Beth criticized the National Party for this error.
“If you are going to build 1,500 social housing units, you should have a clear idea of what you are actually building, rather than using a random image. Who knows how they got the image of our houses and posted it as something that is blatantly untrue,” she said.
A National Party spokesperson stated: “In a social media post to promote the Government’s commitment in the upcoming Budget to build more social housing, National used stock photographs of housing. Following contact from a member of the public linked to the property, the post was replaced.”
All social media posts have since been removed.
Despite the blunder, Beth said she did not want an apology.
SOURCE: 1NEWS