5. Question No. 5—Housing and Urban DevelopmentHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentQuestion No. 5—Housing and Urban Development5. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: How many first-home buyers purchased homes in the last financial year with KiwiSaver HomeStart and how many with KiwiBuild?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): The KiwiSaver HomeStart scheme has been operating for nine years after the Clark Government announced it in 2008.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Rubbish!Hon PHIL TWYFORD: After the Clark Government announced it in 2008.Hon Dr Nick Smith: It started in April 2015.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: After the Clark Government announced the scheme in 2008. In the last financial year 16000 grants were provided to first-home buyers. There were no KiwiBuild homes available for sale in the last financial year as the programme started on 1 July 2018. KiwiBuild and HomeStart complement each other. HomeStart helps first-home buyers with their deposit; KiwiBuild helps provide affordable homes that first-home buyers can afford to buy.Hon Judith Collins: Why with 18000 first-home buyers in the last 12 months can he not sell a few dozen KiwiBuild houses in Wānaka Auckland and Canterbury to first-home buyers?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well there are a number of reasons why in our most expensive housing markets it's extremely difficult for first-home buyers to afford even a bottom quartile priced house. As the member knows KiwiBuild houses are not subsidised; they are simply houses that are being built in the bottom 25 percent of the price range. One of the problems that we have is that the market on its own has not been building affordable homes. Policies like HomeStart don't fix that problem. We must have supply side policies that increase the supply of affordable houses.Hon Judith Collins: Does KiwiBuild continue to have a goal to deliver 100000 houses over 10 years?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: We've made it very clear that the KiwiBuild programme continues to have the ambition to solve the problem of affordability for first-home buyers. We are going to build houses. We've made it clear that we're not going to have interim targets for the programme but we will continue to be transparent about our progress towards the target of building affordable homes for young first-home buyers.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is house building in this country at an all-time record since the early 1970s?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well I thank the member for his question and the answer on two counts actually is that Government agencies together are responsible for building more new homes right now than at any time since the mid-1970s and secondly that under our policies the market is producing more new homes than at any time since 2007.Hon Judith Collins: Were the 27000 houses to be delivered in Hobsonville Māngere Mount Roskill Northcote Tāmaki and Porirua initiated by the current Government or a previous Government as included in his briefing to the incoming Minister?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well I'm sure the member will understand the fact that unlike the former Government this Government has committed to building more public housing more State housing and actually affordable housing. When the last Government was in the business of privatising State housing they never promised to build any affordable homes for first-home buyers as part of that building programme.Hon Judith Collins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked whether 27000 homes in various places were initiated by the current Government or a previous Government. I don't believe that the question was addressed. We got a lot about how much Mr Twyford would like to do but actually that was quite a specific question. SPEAKER: It was and I'll let the Minister have another go. Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well it's true that the former National Government announced plans to build extra private houses on publicly owned land. They didn't actually make any progress on doing that. We've committed to building more State housing and more affordable housing—two things that Government never did. Kieran McAnulty: How well has HomeStart worked in the country's most expensive market?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: HomeStart has helped first-home buyers into their own homes but it hasn't increased the supply of affordable homes. What this means is that in our most expensive markets it has been completely ineffective in tackling the housing crisis. For example in Auckland Aucklanders have only received 10 percent of the number of HomeStart grants that have been given out and that is grossly disproportionate to the number of first-home buyers looking for homes in that city.Hon Judith Collins: Who is taking responsibility for the level of success achieved to date from KiwiBuild?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: This Minister and this Government are taking responsibility for a series of housing policies that are responsible right now for the fact that there are more first-home buyers buying homes in New Zealand than at any time in the last few years—24 percent of buyers in the market are first-home buyers. For the first time in a long time wages are increasing faster than house prices and under our policies—opposed by that member—thousands of children will not be going to hospital any more because of warm dry rental properties.Kieran McAnulty: What effect has the HomeStart grant had on the housing shortfall? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well despite HomeStart being in operation for nine years it's estimated that over that same period of time—those same nine years—a shortfall of 71000 homes developed. Now HomeStart has helped some first-home buyers into their own homes but it will not ease the housing crisis without demand-side policies. KiwiBuild and HomeStart complement each other and KiwiBuild will ensure that there are actually affordable homes for people to buy with the help of the HomeStart grant.