7. Question No. 7—Housing and Urban DevelopmentHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentQuestion No. 7—Housing and Urban Development7. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: Does he stand by his answer to oral question No. 6 on 12 March that the additionality test for a KiwiBuild development can be met in four key ways by getting a development under way; by bringing forward a development or the stage of a development that is scheduled for a later time period; or by redesigning part of a development to provide for additional affordable homes rather than a smaller number of more expensive homes"?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): Yes in its original context. But the fourth element not in the member's question is to reduce the price of homes by reducing cost risk and margin.Hon Judith Collins: Is he confident the Ōtāhuhu development met that test when officials advised the Minister before he bought them that all 19 houses were already under construction including 10 that were already completed?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I am confident in that advice received and I note that the Ōtāhuhu development done by NZ Living—Shane Brealey the developer of that project has stated that one other development would still be a figment of his imagination if not for the KiwiBuild deal. He said it's the result both of the deal freeing up his investment for new developments and from it giving him the confidence to build affordable homes because of the backing he got from KiwiBuild. Hon Judith Collins: How can houses be initiated redesigned or completed earlier after they've already been completed?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well the member seems to want the KiwiBuild unit to tell developers to stop building affordable houses while contracts are signed. The member can't have it both ways. She wants us to do due diligence on contract negotiations but wants the contracts to be signed with the houses not even started or planned.Hon Judith Collins: What price or design details have changed for the nine houses under construction as a result of the KiwiBuild purchase?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: If the member wants to put a written question down about that level of operational detail—[Interruption] Look we are focused on getting affordable homes built not on nit-picking and endless excuses for not building affordable houses.Kieran McAnulty: How many homes are more affordable or are being built faster through this programme?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The members opposite don't like to hear this but Government agencies including KiwiBuild are building more homes right now than at any other time since the mid-1970s. Working with the private sector on KiwiBuild is a small part of that programme but we make no apologies for backing builders to build more affordable homes.SPEAKER: Order! I think that "many more" is not a suitable answer to that sort of supplementary. The member will repeat the question.Kieran McAnulty: How many homes are more affordable or are being built faster through this programme?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: There are more than 1300 homes that are either completed or under construction or contracted as a result of this part of the KiwiBuild programme. Hon Judith Collins: How comfortable is he that of the 10 Ōtāhuhu KiwiBuild houses offered for sale six months ago only one has sold?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I'm comfortable that we are supporting the building of more affordable homes in Ōtāhuhu and in a dozen other locations around the country. These are homes that would not have been built if it were not for the support they get through the KiwiBuild programme. We are committed to building more affordable homes for first-home buyers in stark contrast to that party when it was in Government. Kieran McAnulty: How does this programme fit within the Government's broader housing supply programme? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: As I said before Government agencies are building more homes than at any time in the last 40 years. As well as the KiwiBuild programme in March there were more than 2300 new State houses under construction. We're getting on with tackling the housing crisis. It takes a while to scale up and implement when you're starting from zero but we're making good progress.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Have tenements and new house consents reached a record level in the last 12 months?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Yes. It's not just the houses that are being built by Government agencies; the market itself is responding to our policies and the private market is building more homes right now than at any time since the Helen Clark Labour Government in 2004."