“Kainga Ora might be failing to fix the housing crisis but they are still spending up a frenzy in the process, with a 78 per cent increase in managerial salaries in just two years,” says ACT’s Housing spokesperson Brooke van Velden.

“Written Parliamentary Questions from Housing Minister Megan Woods show a Government department that is out of control with bureaucracy. It has hired an additional 275 managers since June 2020, 133 in the past year alone.

“The cost to taxpayers for all these extra managers is eye watering. Managerial salaries have gone from $58,351,708 in 2020 to $103,695,178 annually in 2022. The average salary is around $175k.

“That’s an awful lot of taxpayer money for an organisation that is competing in the market against private developers and first-home buyers, bidding up the price of land and homes while selling off its own.

“Throughout this same period of time private sector businesses have had to tighten their belts and grapple with dire economic conditions. It will be infuriating for them to see how government departments like Kainga Ora have been using their taxes to do the complete opposite.

“This is why ACT wants to return the number of bureaucrats back to 2017 numbers, saving $1.21b in salaries, and zero base government.

“I highly doubt Kainga Ora would be able to show that all of these extra public servants have resulted in better outcomes for New Zealanders, in fact it's highly likely they’ve made the housing crisis worse by making it harder for private developers to find staff or compete with them on housing developments.

“New Zealand needs real change and that should start with government departments showing restraint when it comes to spending other people’s money.”

Notes: Written Parliamentary Questions can be found here, here and here.

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