Grant Robertson
MP for Wellington Central
Finance Spokesperson

MEDIA STATEMENT

6 July 2017

Too little too late on Wellington housing

The announcement today on social housing in Wellington by the National Government is a pitiful and cynical election ploy, says Labour’s Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson.

“In 2012 Housing New Zealand emptied out the Gordon Wilson Flats, taking 130 places out of the Wellington Central stock. Now five years on and two months out from the election they promise 140 places across the city.

“This is as pathetic as it is cynical. Some of the housing they are trumpeting today has actually already been announced and some is using land that has been empty for years.

“The waiting list for state housing has continued to grow in Wellington during the last few years and National have stood by and done nothing. It is hard to take this latter day conversion seriously.

“We are lucky that the Wellington City Council continues to provide quality social housing otherwise there would be a huge crisis in our city.

“National’s track record on social housing is appalling. They have sold thousands of state houses and treated Housing New Zealand as a cash cow, taking hundreds of millions of dollars of dividends.

“Labour has the plan to start to fix our housing crisis by building thousands of affordable homes and state houses, and to make Housing New Zealand a government department rather than a revenue generator.

“Labour’s fresh approach will also crack down on speculators and act to end homelessness,” says Grant Robertson.

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