Phil Twyford
MP for Te Atatū
Housing Spokesperson
MEDIA STATEMENT
19 June 2017
Nats’ HAM-fisted housing crisis denial
National’s decision to knowingly release a flawed Housing Affordability Measure that underestimates the cost of housing
is the latest evidence of their housing crisis denial, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.
“Five years in the making, and HAM is another Nick Smith stuff-up. The interest rate used is wrong, the data is two
years out of date, and the model entirely ignores the need to save for a deposit. Nick Smith was told that HAM was
wrong; he released it anyway to try to score a political point. That has backfired spectacularly.
“Leave it to Nick Smith to make a pig’s ear out of housing, once again. A measure of home affordability that assumes
home buyers get a 100% 30-year mortgage at a rate well below what any first home buyer can get is completely out of
touch with reality.
“Nick Smith needs to urgently re-issue HAM with accurate numbers on the true state of housing affordability.
“Kiwis need real solutions to the housing crisis; not more porkies from a bumbling minister. Labour’s fresh approach to
housing includes building homes people can actually afford to buy, banning foreign speculators, ensuring all rentals are
warm and healthy to live in, and grants to help with the cost of insulation and heating,” says Phil Twyford.
ends