9. Question No. 9—Housing and Urban DevelopmentPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentQuestion No. 9—Housing and Urban Development9. PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: How many State houses are under construction in June 2019 and how does this compare to June 2016?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): I'm advised that Housing New Zealand at the moment has 2700 homes contracted and under construction with a further 5236 State homes in the planning and procurement process to be delivered between now and 2021-22. This is a ninefold increase on the 222 homes under construction in June 2016.Priyanca Radhakrishnan: Where are these homes being built?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The changes that were made in Budget 2018 meant that Housing New Zealand could start building on the considerable reserves of vacant land in regional New Zealand that we saw build up over the last nine years; 900 homes are currently being built in regional centres predominantly on this vacant land. Significant numbers of new State housing is being built in regional New Zealand for the first time in decades.Priyanca Radhakrishnan: How will Housing New Zealand continue to increase the scale of its build programme?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Housing New Zealand is moving to multi-year capacity contracts with builders and away from project-by-project contracts. This is where Housing New Zealand guarantees a minimum amount of building every year. This contracting arrangement gives builders the certainty to invest in their business. It lays the platform to use more off-site manufacturing to take on more apprentices and reduce the cost of construction.Hon Judith Collins: Thank you Mr Speaker. So does he stand by the statements of Housing New Zealand Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie who told the Social Services and Community Committee on 20 February this year that most of the State house new builds in 2017-18 were consented or started under the previous National-led Government?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I think in the months following a general election you would assume logically that most of the houses that had been built at that stage had been consented a few months prior to the election but I repeat: the number of homes that Housing New Zealand has under construction right now represents a ninefold increase on what was being done in 2016—a ninefold increase.Priyanca Radhakrishnan: What benefits has the increased scale of the build programme already had?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The form of contracting with doing multi-year deals with large builders and developers has enabled Housing New Zealand to reduce the labour costs of new builds by 15 percent. Off-site manufacturing has already reduced the build time of Housing New Zealand's developments—from 14 to 18 months down to 4½ months.Hon Judith Collins: I seek leave to table a document compiled by the Parliamentary Library from a number of different sources including written parliamentary questions oral ones Official Information Act responses from Housing New Zealand and other documents showing the number of State houses built for Housing New Zealand from 1999 through to 2018 year by year.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that document being tabled? There appears to be none.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.