Govt ‘playing housing catch up’
PM says public housing stock increasing to meet communities’ needs
The pity is, had we been building at the rate we are building
at now under the last government, we could have cleared
that waiting list. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Government is playing catch up with public housing as 40 new Ka¯inga Ora homes were unveiled in Hastings.
In yesterday’s visit to Hawke’s Bay, the Prime Minister attended the opening of the homes around Kauri St and Kauri Place and enjoyed tea with some of the tenants.
She said she wanted wha¯nau in emergency housing and on housing waiting lists for years to know that the Government was building as fast as it could.
She said 10 per cent of the entire country’s public housing supply had been built by the Labour Government in the past few years alone.
“The pity is, had we been building at the rate we are building at now under the last government, we could have cleared that waiting list,” Ardern said.
“We are playing catch up but at a significant wait.”
She said her Government had built more than 10,000 public houses nationwide and more than 4000 are under construction.
“We’ve quadrupled transitional housing and we’ve made sure we continue with things like the emergency housing grants to make sure people are in shelter,” Ardern said.
She said another 600 houses were
under way in Hawke’s Bay alone.
“We have had a major build programme in city centres like Auckland, but what we’ve needed is to ensure that we are building at pace across the country and that’s what we see.”
She said the Government was
working with communities to identify the nature of the housing need and meeting that need.
She said 40 new public houses in Hastings meant 35 individuals would leave the waiting list and housing for more who were in unsuitable homes.
“To hear the stories of some of those today, some out of hotels, others out of overcrowding, it is exactly what we need,” Ardern said.
She said the Government was focused on increasing the stock of public housing and transitional housing, but they also wanted to ensure the housing market itself continued to produce enough supply.
The Prime Minister said demand for housing had outstripped supply, contributing to more people joining the wait list for public housing.
She said part of the solution to the unmet demand for housing was to keep training apprentices.
“Some of what constrains building is whether or not you’ve got enough apprentices.”
She said the Government has focused on training people, making apprenticeships free and supporting employers with incentives.
Ardern also attended yesterday’s official opening of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre, which will open to the public on September 1.
She said it was great to see a project on the scale of the centre, which the Government had invested in during the Covid pandemic, finish within 20 months.
“Being able to have here in this region not just an Olympic-level facility, but an international, world championship level facility, one that is accessible and would be able to be used by our para athletes as well, is an exciting prospect.”