If, God forbid, New Zealand was thrust into war, the chances are there would be emergency housing and barracks erected very quickly up and down the country to accommodate the military with a working staff to maintain the buildings.

Luckily, we are not at war – but we still have an emergency with the hordes of homeless people sleeping rough. Why can’t we have barracks and pre-fab houses erected and staff created – like the Salvation Army – to control and maintain these buildings?

My gut feeling is it won’t be allowed to happen because the NZ Parliament is overshadowed by the money barons, who would go all out to prevent anything that would devalue their real estate and rentals.

Still we have in NZ a very real emergency. Perhaps we need to do a survey of every country in the world and see how they deal with the problem of homelessness? We need to fix this problem and quickly!

Ps. I am well-fed and well-housed but it brings a tear to my eye to see the homeless on TV.

Ken Jones, Katikati