RT HON JACINDA ARDERN

HON DR MEGAN WOODS

The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go.

“The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public housing places and 2,000 transitional housing places - reinforces the Government’s investment in public housing. The plan confirms we are on track to deliver over 18,000 extra places by 2024,” says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

“This is not only delivering more warm, dry public housing for those most vulnerable to housing shortages, but also boosts economic activity, jobs in the building sector, employment and apprenticeship opportunities for young people.

“Fixing the housing crisis is a key focus of this Government and our public housing programme plays a key part in enabling more housing to be built through infrastructure investment and support for the construction sector.

“Since November 2017 we have added 4579 newly built state homes across New Zealand; we are building more new public housing than any government has done in two decades. Jacinda Ardern said.

The Housing Minister Megan Woods says the need for public housing for the most vulnerable members of our communities, continues to grow.

“This follows decades of insufficient new housing stock being built and the selling off of thousands of state homes by the previous National Government,” Megan Woods said.

“As this plan outlines, we will focus on building more public and transitional housing in New Zealand’s regions where population growth has significantly exceeded housing, leading to rent rises, housing shortages and deprivation,” Megan Woods said.

“Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga - Ministry of Housing and Urban Development will concentrate on locations with high need and where demand for public housing is the greatest. While public housing will continue to be delivered across the country, there is a particular focus on Northland, Hamilton, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, Palmerston North and Whanganui.

“The Public Housing Plan is one part of a range of housing initiatives to address the housing crisis. These include the Housing First Programme for people experiencing chronic homelessness, Progressive Home Ownership to help families buy their own homes, support for first home buyers and the $300m investment into the Homelessness Action Plan.

The Government is also reviewing market settings to provide more help to first home buyers and innovative ideas to increase the supply of affordable homes.

“Community Housing Providers and iwi and Māori housing providers will assist where Kāinga Ora can’t deliver, such as in Masterton where the public housing stock was sold off in 1999, or where a targeted housing approach is preferred. Local councils will complement this work and provide delivery in some places – especially where they have land and plans ready to go for new housing,” Megan Woods said.

As a result we expect to see:

• greater collaborative partnerships between Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga, Kāinga Ora, iwi and Māori, Local Government and the construction industry
• more public housing delivered in regional centres and towns where housing demand is growing the fastest – alongside delivery in the main centres
• more placed-based and MAIHI approaches and bespoke solutions to respond to different housing needs – especially for Māori; and
• an increase in the number of new build public housing and a progressive decrease in the proportion of private market homes leased for public housing.

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