6. KiwiBuild—Building Activity Targets and CompetitionHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentKiwiBuild—Building Activity Targets and Competition6. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: How many KiwiBuild houses has the Government built to date?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): The 10-year KiwiBuild programme officially kicks off on 1 July with a target of 1000 houses in the first year 5000 in the second and 10000 in the third. But we haven't waited until July to get started on that work; we're actually ahead of schedule with the first KiwiBuild homes currently being built in the member's electorate. Families will be able to buy them and move into them later this year. The Prime Minister also announced the purchase of land from Unitec that will accommodate more than 3000 homes. We are working on more developments on Government land and have had very strong interest from private developers and I will make more announcements in due course. Right.SPEAKER: Order! I'm going to ask the member to ask the question again.Hon Judith Collins: Thank you Mr Speaker. How many KiwiBuild houses has the Government built to date?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: There are 18 houses being constructed in the member's electorate as we speak.Hon Judith Collins: How many houses has the private sector built in the time that he has been a Minister?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I'm happy to get the precise number. If the member wants me to get that for her she can put it down as a written question.Paul Eagle: Mr Chair—no?SPEAKER: It's the normal practice to give two to the asker of question first.Hon Judith Collins: Thank you. Are Westpac and ANZ banks both wrong when they say that there has been a decrease in building activity in the months that he has been the Minister?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Actually the latest consent numbers show that the building numbers in Auckland are up. But look we've always been very clear that we would take three years to ramp up the KiwiBuild programme. That has always been our policy. We said that we will build 1000 in the first year 5000 in the second and 10000 in the third. We inherited a housing crisis that took nine years to develop. The member knows you cannot build—SPEAKER: Order!Paul Eagle: Does the Government expect to meet its target of 1000 KiwiBuild homes in 2018-19 5000 in 2019-20 and 10000 in 2020-21?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: We're under no illusions that this is a big task and we are working hard every day to achieve these targets. This is an aspirational Government. We've set our aims high and we're working hard to achieve them because we believe in the Kiwi Dream of affordable homeownership for all New Zealanders. I remain committed to these targets and we will keep the public updated on progress through KiwiBuild's first year and into the future.Hon Judith Collins: Will KiwiBuild prop up failed developments and failing developers?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: No but KiwiBuild will incentivise the building of the very affordable homes that the market is spectacularly failing to deliver at present. Around 5 percent of new builds are currently in the lower quartile and considered affordable and our buying off the plans initiative for KiwiBuild will incentivise the building of affordable homes that are currently not being built.Hon Judith Collins: How does he plan to get houses built that are extra to those being built by the private sector without competing with the private sector for tradespeople to actually do the building?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well I draw the member's attention to the case in her own electorate where at the McLennan development in Papakura there was a private sector development that had fallen over. Investors were not willing to build in it and the builder who is currently building the KiwiBuild homes in that member's electorate thanked us for the work and said that they were glad to have it. SPEAKER: Yes I will ask the member to ask the question again.Hon Judith Collins: Thank you Mr Speaker. How does he plan to get houses built that are extra to those being built by the private sector without competing with the private sector for tradespeople to actually build the houses?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: We're not denying that there is a problem with workforce capacity. We inherited after nine years of that Government a total failure to build the local workforce. We're committed to developing that workforce and the Hon Jenny Salesa has led an initiative to develop the workforce for KiwiBuild both by recruiting skilled personnel from overseas and developing the local workforce by giving young New Zealanders the opportunities that they deserve.