Housing minister struggles to provide answers when quizzed by National Party spokesperson on details of his KiwiBuild project
Housing minister Phil Twyford struggled to provide details on his KiwiBuild policy, saying it was still ‘early days’ when probed on Question Time about the specifics of his plans to build 3000-4000 homes on the Unitec site.
The government announced its plans to develop 29 hectares of land at Unitec’s Mt Albert campus, which aims to address Auckland’s housing crisis and provide “affordable homes for first homebuyers”.
However, Twyford could not provide details on several practical aspects of the project when quizzed by National Housing spokesperson Judith Collins.
“Mr Twyford did not know where the carpenters, plumbers and electricians were going to come from to build the 3000-4000 homes that he’s announced,” says Collins. “He also had no details as to his KiwiBuild visa and where these visa holders will live while building the houses.”
Twyford did confirm that the KiwiBuild houses will measure 30 square meters for studio dwellings and 45 meters for dwellings with one bedroom or more.
“Incredibly, that’s smaller than a standard double garage and a long way from the aspirational dreams of many homebuyers,” says Collins.
A major bank has also confirmed that it will not provide lending for apartments of less than 30 square meters, and that one bedroom flats of less than 45 square meters will receive only 50% of the value of the property. The buyer will therefore be expected to provide half of the value of the property upfront, and will be unable to sell it on for at least five years.
“The lack of attention to detail on Labour’s flagship policy has continued from last week when the Housing Minister did not know that a 10 year warranty is mandatory for all new residential homes,” Collins went on. “Detail matters, and just six weeks out from announcing the details of the $2bn spend in this year’s budget, Phil Twyford has been shown to have no grasp of how to deliver on his big promises.”
