Twyford Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 29 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18479. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—TeAtatū) to theMinister of Housing: How many homes have been built in the Special Housing Areas as a result of the Auckland Housing Accord and now have people living in them?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Housing): It is difficult to separate out the exact number of new homes resulting from the Auckland Housing Accord but the number of building consents issued has risen when comparing month with month for the first 6 months of the accord from 2535 to 3417 an increase of 882 homes or 35 percent. In respect of the special housing areas the legislation was passed on 27 September; the accord was signed on 3 October; the first special housing area Weymouth was gazetted on 29 October on land that had been vacant for 10 years; the resource consent was granted in January; and earthworks and infrastructure began in February and are now advanced. This is a cracking pace from zoning—[Interruption]. This is land that sat vacant in the heart of Auckland for more than 10 years.Phil Twyford: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was laid down in advance and it was very specific. I asked the Minister not how many houses had been planned or consented or how many lines had been drawn on the map; I asked him how many houses had been built in the special housing areas that now have people living in them.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: I will hear from the Hon Dr Nick Smith.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: If the members had not roared part of the answer I had prepared was to say that we do not keep a specific record of those houses. There are houses in Hobsonville and there are other houses that have been built in special housing areas. The key point is we do not actually keep a record of when the houses are completed and somebody moves in.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I need no more assistance. I can sympathise with the point of view raised by Phil Twyford but the Minister right at the start of his answer said it was difficult to sort out. I think members now have to draw their own conclusions from those answers. The way forward—Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: —I am on my feet Mr Parker—I would suggest is to continue with incisive supplementary questions.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not even sure whether I know the answer to this point of order because I am not sure whether it is possible to count to zero.Mr SPEAKER: The member can always try.Phil Twyford: Did he admit yesterday that the Government’s target of 39000 homes is now a considerable stretch because 1 year after he announced the Auckland Housing Accord not a single new home has been built in the special housing areas?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The twit opposite does not seem to know what is required to build a house.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am going to invite the Minister to start his answer again.Hon Trevor Mallard: Oh withdraw and apologise!Mr SPEAKER: If a member takes exception—Hon Trevor Mallard: You don’t need the member. It’s your job to keep order.Mr SPEAKER: Order! If Mr Mallard wants to stay for question time he can stay quiet—Dr Russel Norman: It’s not question time. There are no answers.Mr SPEAKER: Well if he wants to go I can assist. I can continue to add to his record. I have invited the Minister to commence his answer again.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The process that is required to do a new housing development requires firstly the zoning. That took 7 years on average under the last Government. We now do it in 7 weeks. You require resource consent. That was done usually very late under the previous Government. It is now done on time. My simple challenge for members opposite is that it takes time to build houses—something the impractical people opposite do not seem to understand.Phil Twyford: Why did he promise 39000 homes to the people of Auckland in his announcement last May when he now talks only about consent numbers and empty sections no one can live on?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The Government committed with the Auckland Council to 39000 new homes. I remind the member that in 2008 4000 homes were consented. In the last year we are now up to 7000. The first-year target is 9000 and our estimate is that we will achieve more than that—10500. I have been very up front in saying that we need to stretch to get the 13000 target in year 2 and 17000 in year 3 but we make it absolutely plain that the Government remains committed to those targets.Tim Macindoe: Has the Minister seen any comparative examples of how the housing accord and special housing areas are speeding up new house construction in Auckland?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Yes. At Hobsonville the previous Government announced a new housing development of 3000 homes in 2002 with a lovely photograph of the then Prime Minister turning the first sod—in 2002. The only problem was that not a second sod was turned by 2008—zip zero homes. The special housing area at Hobsonville was granted in December and earthworks were consented a week later. One hundred building consents have been issued in that special housing area. I am advised by the Hobsonville Land Co. that the housing accords and special housing areas on that one special housing area are going to enable at least 200 homes more per year to be delivered.Phil Twyford: Were the 13 resource consents in his report granted in the first 4 months in the special housing areas a typo or has the progress so far actually been that slow and can he confirm that at that rate it will take 1000 years to build the 39000 houses he promised?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: We committed to 9000 houses in the first year in an agreement. I would ask the member to talk to his good friend Len Brown because at the Local Government Forum this morning Len Brown made it plain that we would get more than 10000—that we would exceed those targets—and that shows the progress we have made with measures that members opposite opposed at every step along the way.Barbara Stewart: Why is the Government pursuing a fast-track housing redevelopment in Auckland that will result in approximately 4000 people including many seniors being displaced from their homes and communities?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I assume the member is referring to the area ofTāmaki and this Government is progressing new housing developments there. I would note that theTāmaki redevelopment was announced by the previous Labour Government in 2005 but between 2005 and 2008 zero houses were built. Under this Government we are making progress in building houses inTāmaki—several hundred. It is true that a consequence of that intensification putting more houses in place is some angst. But the Opposition cannot have it both ways—opposing new housing developments in one breath and complaining that there are not enough in the next.Phil Twyford: Is the fact that not a single new house has been built in the special housing areas 1 year after he announced his accord not yet more proof that his housing policy has failed; and why does he not just admit defeat and adopt Labour’s policy of building 100000 affordable homes and taxing speculators? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am keen to hear the answer.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Opposition members say that they are going to build 10000 houses per year but they spent 6 years not building a single one of the 3000 homes they promised in Hobsonville. That just shows the sort of pipedream that members opposite spin. I note that the rate of new house builds in Auckland is double of what it was in 2008. It is the highest it has been in years and it shows the progress we are making.Brendan Horan: Has the Minister done his mathematics on those 39000 homes does he know the current average price for a home in Auckland and does he realise that that would come to $30 billion worth of building and that the pipedream perhaps is actually with the Minister?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Yes it is a very large investment. I would point out that this year’s target is 9000 new homes. That latest estimate from both the Auckland Council and the Government is that it will achieve about 10500 new homes in year 1. But the member is right to point out the scale of the new investment and the pace with which new house building is progressing in the Queen City.Tim Macindoe: How does the time line for plan changes and resource consents for the previous decade compare with the present one?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I am advised that the average time for a plan change to residential zoning in the last decade was 7 years. I am further advised that the average time to achieve the equivalent under the special housing areas is 7 weeks. On resource consents of which 80 percent are for residential housing 53 percent were late in 2008—that is 20000 late resource consents. I note that the latest resource consent figures show that the number of consents that are now late has dropped below 3 percent fewer than 1200 per year and I think that shows the progress of this Government. It is getting rid of the red tape so that Kiwis can have homes.Barbara Stewart: What steps is the Government taking to ensure that homes built in its special housing areas are affordable for the average Kiwi family?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I would point out that the very first special housing area is at Weymouth. I would invite anybody in this House to go to that site see the earthworks and see the pace of work to realise firstly the pace that we are making on a block of land that has stayed vacant for more than a decade and secondly that 80 percent of the new houses in Weymouth will be in the affordable zone. This morning in response to this question I inquired with the Hobsonville Land Co.. Over half of its homes are going to be in the affordable range and that is why members opposite should support both these developments that this Government is advancing.