Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
8 SEPTEMBER 2016

Smith Hiding Seriousness of Housing Crisis

The government is using house consent numbers in Auckland to deliberately deceive the public over the true extent of the city’s housing crisis, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Auckland Council statistics show the percentage of houses being ticked off as completed in the city has dropped alarmingly since 2008.

“In 2008 a total of 4308 consents were approved and 4438 houses received the final Code Compliance Certificate.

“By 2015 a total of 9251 consents were approved but only 5073 houses had been completed and given a code of compliance.

“Consents, as the government knows full well, are not finished houses ready for occupation.

“But Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith quotes these consent figures to hoodwink the public into believing he has a grip on the housing crisis, when he hasn’t.

“Longer and longer delays are being made between the times a house is given consent to the time it is given its final Code Compliance Certificate.

“And the delays will only worsen as thousands more immigrants flood into Auckland squeezing the housing market even more.

“The National government has created a SuperCity mess in Auckland and Dr Smith is using smoke and mirror tactics to cover up just how big the mess is,” Mr Peters says.

ATTACHMENT – Building consents and code compliance certificates comparison in Auckland

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1609/Building_consents_and_code_compliance_certificates_comparison_in_Auckland.pdf

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