23 JANUARY 2019

There are more Maui dolphins than Kiwibuild homes, points out the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says “DoC estimates there are only 63 Maui dolphins left, putting the species on the verge of extinction, but that’s still more than the 47 KiwiBuild houses that have been built so far, despite KiwiBuild having a budget of $2 billion. The only responsible policy response is to place the KiwiBuild houses on DoC’s critically endangered list.”

“More seriously, even if Phil Twyford did achieve his house-building goals, he would be doing next to nothing to increase housing supply. The New Zealand Initiative’s latest report, Kiwibuild – Twyford’s Tar Baby, points out that KiwiBuild will, at best, increase the housing stock by 2.7 percent during a period where population increases by 10.8 percent.”

“By any measure, KiwiBuild is a terrible use of taxpayer funds. The Minister needs to cancel this failure of a policy while it’s still relatively cheap.”

ENDS

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