Housing waiting list at all-time high

The Government is building more public housing than any government has in 20 years. But the waiting list just hit an all-time high.

Jacinda Ardern’s government exceeded its build target for public housing in the last year, building 500 more public homes than expected.

But the 2178 new public housing places have not stemmed the continued growth in the waitlist for that housing, which broke an all-time record as it cracked 12,000 by the end of June.

The 12,311 eligible households on the waitlist for public housing included 1734 new entries from just the month of June, more than the original target for new public housing spots over the entire year.

The Government exceeded that target of 1600 new homes by more than 500, building 2178 over the year.

‘‘On average Housing New Zealand is building four new homes a day. As well as this, Housing New Zealand currently has about 2000 homes under construction or under contract,’’ New housing minister Megan Woods said.

‘‘Registered Community Housing Providers are also making a significant contribution to increasing public housing supply. They delivered 955 of the additional 2178 public houses.’’

The waitlist has more than trebled since 2016, and in June broke the alltime record of 12,195 families from 2004, reached under very different circumstances.

‘‘The Government recognises that the demand for housing continues to rise, driven in part by a shortage of supply, inadequate housing, homelessness, and insecurity of tenure,’’ Woods said.

‘‘Public housing supports a range of Government housing initiatives like the successful Housing First programme for chronically homeless people, and transitional housing to support people in urgent need of housing.’’

The median time to get an eligible household into a tenancy stayed mostly steady at 119 days in June, down from 120 in May.