Turei Metiria: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTurei Metiria: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 31 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11465. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister of Finance: He aha ngā tono Pūtea Tahua a Te Minita Hanga Whare Whakawhiwhi Whare a Te Minita Pāpori Take Whare me Te Minita Take Monī ki a ia mō Te Pūtea Tahua o te tau 2016 e pā ana kī ngā raruraru mō te whiwhi whare?[What Budget bids did the Minister for Building and Housing the Minister for Social Housing and the Minister of Revenue make to him for Budget 2016 in relation to housing issues?]Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): There is no translation.Mr SPEAKER: I certainly received an interpretation and it is as written on the sheet. If the Minister is happy to proceed—otherwise we can have it again but I certainly got the interpretation.Hon BILL ENGLISH: On the basis that it is the question on the sheet—the member will just have to wait for the release of all the Budget papers for the details about that but I can confirm for the member that there were 11 successful bids: a $258 million package for more social housing places in Auckland investment in the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company and support for 3000 emergency housing places and a new special needs grant a $100 million injection into the development of surplus Crown land in Auckland a $12.6 million increase over the next 4 years for Māori housing and an additional $36 million for the Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes and Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart initiatives. In total that is over $400 million of new spending on housing-related issues.Metiria Turei: Did the Minister for Social Housing bid for more money in Budget 2016 for the building of more State houses to help address Housing New Zealand’s 4500-person waiting list?Hon BILL ENGLISH: As it happens Housing New Zealand has got probably one of its largest ever capital investment programmes over the next financial year—probably close to $1 billion—but of course that is not the only answer;it is part of an answer.But the member needs to understand that the way the system works now is that we do not have to wait for Housing New Zealand to build a new house. The Ministry of Social Development can go and procure social housing from community housing providers and developers so that it can place people on the waiting list. In Auckland the problem is not a lack of money; it is a lack of houses.Metiria Turei: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was very specific about whether the Minister for Social Housing bid for a specific purpose; that was not addressed in the Minister’s answer.Mr SPEAKER: It is a very marginal call because there was a figure then given but I accept the point that the member in her question talked specifically about more State houses. I am going to invite the member to ask the question again.Metiria Turei: Thank you. Did the Minister for Social Housing bid for more money in Budget 2016 for the building of more State houses to help address Housing New Zealand’s 4500-person waiting list?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No because that is not her role. Her role as Minister of Social Housing is to bid for places. Those places can now be secured from community housing providers and developers as well as from Housing New Zealand. As I said to the member Housing New Zealand has got an extensive investment programme but the real issue in Auckland is not a lack of Government money; it is a lack of houses. When we go out bidding for social houses we are competing with providers of emergency houses and with first home owners and we need more houses on the ground so everyone’s needs can be more easily met.Metiria Turei: Did the Minister for Building and Housing bid for a State-sponsored build of affordable housing in Budget 2016 given that everything that he has come up with so far has failed to produce affordable housing on the scale that New Zealand families need?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Minister for Building and Housing bid primarily for money for the use of surplus Crown land. But the member is simply wrong with her second assertion and she seems to misunderstand as the Labour Party does that even if the Government wants to build houses it cannot build one unless Auckland Council agrees to every single step. And to be fair to Auckland Council it is now seeing 40 new houses completed every day in Auckland but that number needs to rise to 50 or 60 per day. But if the Government wants to do a redevelopment say at Three Kings it still has to deal with the community group that does not want that redevelopment to occur or that wants it modified and go through the Environment Court. That is the law of the land.Metiria Turei: Did the Minister of Local Government propose anything for housing in Budget 2016 other than blaming Auckland Council for the growing housing crisis driven by National in that city?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Minister of Local Government did not put in a housing bid because he does not have any capacity to do that. What he is doing though is going around the country working with local government trying to get it more focused on the growth opportunities that come with a growing population because a number of councils have yet to fully adapt. I give Auckland Council the credit for lifting the rate of building from about 20 a day 6 or 7 years ago to 40 a day today. The Auckland construction industry is in its fourth year of 20 percent compound growth.Metiria Turei: Did the Minister for Māori Development bid for more funding for marae in Budget 2016 so that they could better house families who are currently living in cars and garages?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No he did not but he certainly did bid for more funding for housing because the Minister for Māori Development wants to help all those iwi who can now see that they can participate as providers of social housing right across New Zealand. The Māori Party is building a social housing network that will mean that in the future we will not be reliant on one Government monopoly—that is Housing New Zealand—to meet the needs of every New Zealander with serious housing needs.Metiria Turei: Did the Minister for Social Development propose in Budget 2016 wiping the debt that New Zealanders owe to Work and Income for emergency housing given the many months that beneficiaries are being forced to live in expensive emergency housing?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Minister for Social Development has pretty good insight into the often complex and challenging aspects of the lives of the people to whom the member is referring. The Minister for Social Development oversees the expenditure of $1.3 billion on accommodation benefit part of the $2 billion that we spend every year subsidising housing. One of the reasons we want to change the Resource Management Act and want to see a proper unitary plan in Auckland is to reduce the pressure on the Government to continually increase subsidies because of poor and misdirected planning that prevents enough houses being built.Metiria Turei: Did the Minister responsible for HNZC recommend to Cabinet that his State house sell-off programme should be stopped as part of Budget 2016 given that there are 4500 people on the Housing New Zealand waiting list today?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No because that would not help. In fact what is happening is that there is an increase in the social housing stock in Auckland primarily because we have been able to change the system to secure houses from organisations other than Housing New Zealand. The selling of State houses has been applied in those areas where there is less demand and certainly not large numbers of people on the register.