Housing accord looking more and more shaky

Today's dismal figures announced by Housing Minister Nick Smith indicate the Government's flagship Auckland Housing Accord is looking more and more shaky, Labour's Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says.

“Twelve months after Nick Smith proudly promised Aucklanders 39,000 new homes he still hasn't built a single new home in the Special Housing Areas that people are living in and he isn’t expecting any for several months.

“Today's report shows the Minister is starting to back pedal. He is now predicting 529 fewer consents in the first year of the Accord than he was two months ago. No wonder he starting saying this week that meeting the targets of 13,000 and 17,000 for the next two years would be a ‘considerable stretch’.

“Today's consent numbers released by Statistics NZ show Auckland building consents, excluding apartments which tend to be volatile, are lower in the past six months than the preceding six months (2575 vs. 2609).

“Nick Smith is predicting only 293 more dwellings consented in the first year of the Accord than the market produced in the year prior. That's a 3 per cent increase. Is that the best the Minister can do after six years in office?

“This report has confirmed that sadly the 13 resource consents granted in the Special Housing Areas highlighted in the previous report was not a typo.

“Only another five consents have been granted in the past two months, meaning a measly 18 resource consents is all that has come out of the accord so far.

“The bottom line here is that Aucklanders desperately want more houses to be built, and all Nick Smith can offer them is lines on a map. People can't live in a consent.

“The next Labour-led Government will build 100,000 affordable homes for first home buyers, tax speculators, put a stop to offshore buyers bidding up house prices, and reform monetary policy to lower interest rates,” Phil Twyford says.

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