Building houses to tackle the crisis
Hon Phil Twyford
Minister for
Housing and Urban Development
Hon
Jenny Salesa
Associate Minister for
Housing and Urban Development
17 May
2018
Building houses to tackle the
crisis
The Coalition Government is committing to a multi-billion dollar investment to build public housing and thousands of affordable homes, and to help house our most vulnerable people, says Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford.
“Too many New Zealanders are hurting because of the housing crisis. Many are locked out of the Kiwi dream of home ownership. Others are homeless or suffering the health effects of poor-quality housing,” says Phil Twyford.
“The single most important thing the Government can do to solve the housing crisis is to build more affordable homes. The best way to tackle homelessness is to build more public housing.
“Our plan increases public housing by 6,400 homes over the next four years – 1,600 a year. This means that Budget 2018 exceeds our earlier commitment to build at least 1,000 State houses each year,” says Phil Twyford.
The new public housing will be built
through a combination of:
• $234.4 million in
operating funding from Budget 2018
• Housing
New Zealand borrowing 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.
“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.
“The Government is also providing $300.0 million capital for the Tāmaki Regeneration Company to contribute to building 1,400 more houses and 700 new public housing units in that development.”
Over
the next four years the Government will also:
•
increase funding to allow Tenancy Services to continue
delivering current services – $33.6 million operating
funding
• implement and monitor the Healthy
Homes Guarantee Act 2017 and collect data on housing quality
– $14.6 million operating and $0.5 million capital
funding
• increase transitional housing* by
more than 200 places to reach a target of 2,155 places to
serve up to 34,000 families over four years – $68.9
million in capital in 2018/19 and $101.0 million in
operating funding over the four years
• fund
frontline Ministry of Social Development housing services
– $30 million operating funding
• market rent
top-up funding for Community Group Housing* – $13.7
million operating funding.
Earlier this month, the Coalition Government announced further support for the Housing First* programme.
“We are investing an additional $20.5 million operating funding over the next four years to provide services for the more than 900 households currently in Housing First. This serves the most disadvantaged homeless people in Auckland, Christchurch, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington and Lower Hutt,” says Associate Housing and Urban Development Minister Jenny Salesa.
“We’re also expanding the successful Housing First programme to a further 550 households in other regions of high need.” The expansion of Housing First is from an additional $43.9 million in operating funding over four years.
“The Coalition Government is taking responsibility for fixing the housing crisis,” says Phil Twyford.
“The register of households waiting for public housing – now at 7,890 plus 1,805 waiting for transfers to a more suitable public house – shows how much work needs to be done and how far backwards we went over the last decade.
“While the Government and community housing providers work to resolve the housing crisis over the coming years by building more houses, transitional housing and other measures will support those who urgently need housing in the meantime,” Phil Twyford says.
Note to editors:
Public housing is targeted at households who
cannot access or sustain a tenancy in the private rental
market for a range of reasons. Public houses are owned or
leased by Housing New Zealand or by registered Community
Housing Providers. Most tenants in public housing pay
income-related rent, which limits their rent to no more than
25 per cent of their net income. This rental payment is
topped up to the market rent by the Ministry of Social
Development’s Income-Related Rent Subsidy.
Transitional housing provides short-term
housing for up to 12 weeks for people with immediate housing
needs, along with support to help them find long-term homes.
Transitional housing places are managed by specialist
providers who are skilled in providing social support
services, tenancy-related support and managing properties
and tenancies.
Housing First is a
highly successful, internationally proven way to house and
support chronically homeless people or those who are
homeless with multiple, complex needs. Housing First finds
housing for a person without readiness conditions such as
psychiatric treatment or sobriety. It also provides
wraparound support and services, for as long as needed, to
help them stay housed and improve their lives.
Community Group Housing is a Housing New
Zealand service that provides suitable properties for
community organisations to house and support people with
physical, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities; provide
residential alcohol and drug services; provide women refuge
from family violence; provide emergency housing and housing
for at-risk youth and for prisoner
reintegration.