PQ 3. Christchurch Recovery—Housing New Zealand Properties [Sitting date: 26 November 2014. Volume:702;Page:4. Text is subject to correction.]

3. NUK KORAKO (National) to the Minister for Social Housing : What progress is Housing New Zealand making on rebuilding and repairing properties damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes?

Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Housing): Housing New Zealand is making great progress in repairing or rebuilding the 95 percent of its homes that were damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes. It is ahead of schedule on the repair of 5,000 earthquake-damaged homes by the end of 2015, with more than half of the repairs completed already; $67.2 million has been invested in the repair programme so far; and the target of building 700 new homes by the end of 2015 is also well on track.

Nuk Korako : Kia ora. How is the rebuild programme getting more tenants into homes that better suit their needs?

Hon PAULA BENNETT : What Housing New Zealand has been able to do is think about a programme of sensible intensification that is able to get far more Christchurch people housed in the right-sized homes in the right place. So, for example, nearly three-quarters of people on the social housing register in Christchurch need a one or two-bedroom home, and many existing homes are simply too big. Just last week I visited a site in Spreydon, where Housing New Zealand is building five modern two-bedroom homes on a site where there was only one three-bedroom home. On another site in Riccarton it is replacing three old homes with 19 two-bedroom homes. That will make a huge difference for the people there.

ENDS

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