3. Question No. 3—HousingHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 3—Housing3. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing: Does she agree with the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development when he said So Kāinga Ora and the community housing sector are as I said being very careful not to displace people from the market—that's the intention"? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Yes and as I explained to the member on Tuesday in 2018-19 just 22 percent of Kāinga Ora houses were buy-ins down from the 62 percent high achieved under the previous Government. In the current year to date the number of buy-ins is down to around 15 percent. Hon Judith Collins: When she told Parliament on Tuesday that she had sought assurances that there was only one case of Kāinga Ora displacing first-home buyers did she receive that assurance? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: When I said I had sought assurances from officials I had asked if there was any other situation similar to the Onehunga case where first-home buyers were to have their contracts cancelled as was the case in the Onehunga case. I have received some information from officials and I will continue to discuss it with them. Hon Judith Collins: How does that answer reconcile with Kāinga Ora's statement to Parliament's Social Services and Community Committee yesterday that they could not provide any such guarantee? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: What the chief executive and the chairman of Kāinga Ora said to the select committee from my understanding when they went there yesterday was that they certainly were doing everything that they could to reduce buy-ins and the evidence is there that that is occurring. I go back to the fact that we're down from 62 percent buy-ins under the previous Government to 22 percent and 15 percent respectively for this Government and that they were ensuring to see that we could get that down even further. But there are occasionally times when Kāinga Ora has to go out and buy a very specific property to meet the needs of a referral through the Ministry of Social Development. Hon Judith Collins: How does her statement to Parliament on Tuesday that she had sought advice that there was only one case of displacement reconcile with her officials' admission yesterday that there were in fact eight such instances of gazumping of first-home buyers in one development alone—people who had signed—SPEAKER: Order! Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: The member is conflating two very different things. I said that I had sought assurances from officials that there were not similar situations where first-home buyers had had contracts cancelled. That is an ongoing discussion that I am having with officials. But this is nothing new. I go back to a situation in 2013 and an article in the New Zealand Herald where a bidder at an auction said "The Housing New Zealand rep was going up in $10000 bids while other bids were going up in $2000s. How many working families are missing out because they'll come along with big pockets and buy at auction?" That of course was under the previous Government. Hon Judith Collins: So when the Minister wants to go to ancient history is she also saying that Housing New Zealand actually had contracts cancelled for first-home buyers because they wanted to buy the property? Is that what she's now saying because that's what's happening under her watch?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: We talked about on Tuesday in this House the situation in Onehunga and that I have talked to officials. Of course it is not our desire that first-home buyers have their contracts cancelled when looking to move into a house. Kāinga Ora will continue the practice that has operated for a number of years where sometimes developers or real estate agents come before any other efforts in the market have been made and offer those properties and I also point the member to the fact that this is a practice that is declining under our Government. Under the previous Government we reached highs of over 60 percent of those properties being buy-ins. We are building not only more houses but a lower proportion of them are buy-ins. Hon Judith Collins: When her ministry says that it is careful not to displace first-home buyers from properties that they have signed for—contracted for—then how can that be if they can't actually tell her how many people they've done this to? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I have had some initial conversations but of course this is less than a week ago. It is a conversation I will continue to have with officials—that is my job as the responsible Minister. But again I point the member to the fact that she is not coming from a strong position when her Government failed to build State houses and only went out and bought to the tune of over 60 percent on the open market. We are building more State houses than any Government in years and we are buying in a far lower proportion—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Stop making it up. Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: —than the previous Government did. SPEAKER: Order! Who made that interjection? Hon Gerry Brownlee: I did. SPEAKER: Stand withdraw and apologise. Hon Gerry Brownlee: I withdraw and apologise. SPEAKER: If the Hon Judith Collins is finished I am going to just make a brief comment. I have on occasions held her up as an exemplar for the asking of supplementary questions which are within the rules. I've had on occasion criticism from both sides of the House for what people have described as excessive flexibility with the member but generally she has been very good. On this occasion I think she knows that on at least a couple of the supplementaries she went further than she generally does and I want to ask her to go back to her normal practice of obeying the rules."