Key exposed for ignorance on affordable housing

John Key’s claim that Labour cannot build affordable homes in Auckland is in tatters after it was revealed that his own Government is already planning to build four-bedroom homes on prime land for less than $485,000.

“Mr Key is so focused on writing off the Opposition that he is completely ignorant of his own policy.

“The Government’s Hobsonville development, trumpeted by John Key just months ago, will build affordable houses between 60m2 and 300m2. These range from one bedroom units to four bedroom properties at a cost of $485,000 or less. And this is on prime land!

“Yet when asked about it in Parliament today, John Key initially drew a blank, then accused Labour of repeating its own policy.

“He claimed at for $400,000 National was building one-bedroom studio or a two to three bedroom terraced house. But National’s proposal at Hobsonville Point is much more than this. It includes four-bedroom houses for less than $485,000.

“When it dawned on him that he might have missed something about his own policy he tried to laugh it off by saying that if Labour was so sure affordable houses were being built then ‘there is no housing problem’.

“The Prime Minister is so focused on telling New Zealanders what can’t be done that he has forgotten what he himself has promised.

“This morning he was calling KiwiBuild a ‘pipedream’. But this afternoon’s performance leaves New Zealanders under no illusion about who’s in a haze.

“Labour will put 100,000 Kiwi families into their first homes. We’ll build a mix of stand-alone homes, apartments and terraced houses. By building in bulk, we can bring construction costs down significantly. That’s a saving that will benefit Kiwis desperate to buy their own home.

“John Key has been called out on his own figures.

“Labour can and will get 100,000 Kiwis into their first homes in the next 10 years, National is just miffed it didn’t roll out the idea first,” Annette King said.

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