3. Question No. 3—Housing and Urban DevelopmentHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentQuestion No. 3—Housing and Urban Development3. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: Does he stand by his statement that houses purchased off the plans as part of the KiwiBuild scheme were purchased off the plans Because they were included in the plans at the time they were built"?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): Yes in its original context.Hon Judith Collins: What definition of buying off the plans has Cabinet used in approving the outright purchase of private sector houses for KiwiBuild?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The Buying off the Plans scheme is a generic name for a scheme that involves both the use of the underwrite and buying off the plans literally in order to incentivise developers to build more affordable houses.Hon Judith Collins: Why did the KiwiBuild Buying off the Plans business case that was adopted by Cabinet last year define a time line on page 48 where all legal and contractual steps occur before construction begins?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Oh look I'd have to have the document in front of me and read it in order to specifically answer that question but look I'll say this: the Buying off the Plans initiative through KiwiBuild the use of the underwrite is part of our commitment to get the market to build more affordable homes something it hasn't done for a very long time and something the previous Government never even tried to do. We're doing it.Hon Judith Collins: What proof does he have that Cabinet made a decision that allowed him to use his KiwiBuild budget to buy houses that are already well under construction?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I'm advised that the purchase of houses as part of bigger KiwiBuild deals is perfectly within the remit that Cabinet signed off. You know the member can't have it both ways. On one hand she wants to quibble about the fact of saying we should do more due diligence on projects and then on the other hand she criticises us for actually assessing projects properly as we negotiate the KiwiBuild contracts.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Just do what you said. Do what you promised.SPEAKER: Order! No. Dr Smith will stand withdraw and apologise.Hon Dr Nick Smith: I withdraw and apologise.Hon Judith Collins: Is he certain KiwiBuild is allowing developers to reduce profit margin when developers such as Mike Greer Homes have two identical attached townhouses for sale in Rolleston one with a KiwiBuild underwrite and one for sale to the general public and both are marketed at exactly the same price? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I've said this before but I'll say it again: the mistake that the member repeatedly makes on this issue is to quibble about individual homes. The Mike Greer project actually has delivered 104 affordable homes—104 affordable homes—for first-home buyers. That's more than the affordable homes that the last Government built in nine years. Hon Judith Collins: Do houses underwritten that have already been offered to the market prior to entering the KiwiBuild programme meet the Cabinet definition of a KiwiBuild house as one that is "offered for sale in the first instance to an eligible [KiwiBuild] purchaser;"? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well as I said in an earlier answer the purchase of those homes or the underwriting of them is perfectly within the remit that Cabinet's signed off. It would be silly and nonsensical to tell developers to stop building affordable homes while we take the time to do the due diligence properly to take three six or nine months to properly negotiate a contract. I'm not going to tell developers to stop building affordable homes because that would be silly. Hon Judith Collins: Is he the only person who believes that buying off the plan includes buying a house that has been built and marketed unsuccessfully to the public? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: No because there's a huge majority of the New Zealand public who want to see affordable homes built who support our Government's efforts to work with the private sector to build affordable homes for young Kiwi families. That's the basis of our policy and that's what we're doing."