However, housing minister says “there is still plenty to do”
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s latest monthly housing dashboard revealed record numbers of state houses are under construction and shows the Government build programme is “gaining momentum.”
The September dashboard showed that 3,402 homes are under construction as part of the Government’s build programme. The dashboard also showed that 1,340 homes were bought using the First Home Grant, 61 KiwiBuild homes were sold, and 967 households are engaged in Housing First.
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“After nine years of inaction, and a hands-off attitude from the previous government we’re starting to see things move in the right direction for housing,” said Housing Minister Megan Woods. “We’ve got over 2,300 public houses currently being built. We’re also seeing a year on year increase in the number of consents issued with 35,658 in the last 12 months. That’s an increase of 8.8% on last year.”
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development produces its housing monthly dashboards as a regular indicative pulse-check on public housing in New Zealand.
“We made a commitment when we reset the KiwiBuild programme that we would deliver a monthly dashboard of housing measures to show New Zealanders how we’re tracking,” said Woods. “This dashboard sets the baseline for the Government build programme.”
“Overall we’re starting to make good progress with the Government build programme gathering momentum but the size of the housing issues we inherited from the previous government means there is still plenty to do.”
