Government hopes its commitment will help house New Zealand's most vulnerable people
The coalition government has announced a multi-billion dollar investment to build public housing and thousands of affordable homes.
According to Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford, this commitment will help house New Zealand’s most vulnerable people.
“Too many New Zealanders are hurting because of the housing crisis,” Twyford said. “Many are locked out of the Kiwi dream of home ownership.
“Others are homeless or suffering the health effects of poor-quality housing,” he added.
Twyford said the plan is to increase public housing by 6,400 homes over the next four years – 1,600 a year. It will be built through a $234.4 million in operating funding from Budget 2018, Housing New Zealand borrowing of up to $2.9 billion from third parties and investing a further $900 million from its operations.
“This combination of borrowing and internal funding by Housing New Zealand began under the former government to fund the Auckland Housing Programme, and is now being expanded to allow Housing New Zealand to provide additional public housing places,” he explained. “These Budget 2018 announcements are on top of the $2.1 billion committed in the December 2017 mini-Budget as capital and operating funding for the KiwiBuild programme and to set up the Housing Commission.
A $300 million capital will also be provided for the Tāmaki Regeneration Company to contribute to building 1,400 more houses and 700 new public housing units in that development, the minister added.
