It is time for the Minister of Housing and Urban Development to step down over his inability to deliver on the Government’s flagship housing policy, National’s Housing spokesperson Judith Collins says.

“Phil Twyford’s statement that he would ‘neither confirm nor deny’ whether the Government is still committed to building 100,000 KiwiBuild homes in 10 years confirms it is not. If it was, the Minister would say so rather than telling New Zealanders to wait for the results of KiwiBuild’s ‘reset’.

“The Prime Minister also failed to show leadership and commit to the target when questioned by National, which shows her Government has broken yet another election pledge just 18 months into its term.

“The only thing Phil Twyford has successfully built during his time in charge of KiwiBuild is a house of cards with all his flimsy promises to home-buyers, and that house has finally come crashing down. It’s time for him to go.

“There’s not a shred of credibility left for Labour’s failed programme. A thousand homes were promised in its first year, but that target was scrapped in January. Only 80 houses have been built thus far and only a third of them have sold.

“Phil Twyford has publicly staked his job on delivering 100,000 houses in a decade. Now that KiwiBuild is heading the way of Labour’s capital gains tax it’s time for him to honour that commitment and offer his resignation, for the sake of his and the Prime Minister’s credibility.

“Removing Mr Twyford from the equation would allow the Government to kill off KiwiBuild and focus on building state houses and encouraging community groups to be involved housing provision, as well as deal with much-needed reform of the Resource Management Act, which National is working on now.”

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