4 July 2017

Nick Smith’s cluelessness on housing putting lives at risk

Nick Smith’s inability to provide any real answers about his failed Special Housing Areas (SHA) experiment in Auckland shows a government that is running away from solving the affordable housing crisis, the Green Party said today.

“It boggles the mind that Building and Construction Minister Nick Smith does not know how many affordable homes were being built in Auckland’s Special Housing Areas,” said Green Party Co-Leader Metiria Turei.

“SHAs were his big, bright idea – how can he claim to not know how successful, or not, they’ve been?

“Meanwhile house prices continue to skyrocket with The Economist showing that New Zealand has the least affordable housing in the world.

“Nick Smith is also running away from the Government’s responsibility to ensure tenants aren’t living in cold, damp homes.

“When questioned last week, he said he did not know how many landlords are meeting their obligation to insulate homes.

“With almost 1,600 people dying each winter in New Zealand because of cold, damp houses, National’s mismanagement is putting lives at risk.

"The Green Party will take real action to fix our housing crisis. We will make rentals more secure and fund Warm Up NZ so that we can have warm, dry and safe housing. We will make housing affordable again through our Homes for Life package which will enable everyday New Zealanders to own their own homes,” said Mrs Turei.

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