Woods MeganHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Thank you Madam Chair. I thought it was time to take a call and clear up some confusion that seems to be reigning particularly from Mr Brownlee. One of the things that Mr Brownlee has talked about in the two calls that I've been in the Chamber to hear him take was the lower deposit rates which he acknowledged were a good thing but he seems to be suffering under the misapprehension that these schemes can be applied only to KiwiBuild houses. That is not the case. In the same way that the HomeStart grants and the Welcome Home Loans could be used on any home in the past these can—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Yeah with a cap.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: —also be. There has always been a cap Mr Brownlee around those homes. So I think that any idea that these can be applied only to KiwiBuild—I think the member can assure himself and sleep easy tonight knowing that they're not going to apply only to KiwiBuild homes.One of the other things that I've been hearing from members of the Opposition a lot in the speeches—I heard it from Mr Brownlee; it was certainly in Mr Bridges' speech: calling this retreat. I'd just like to spell out for members of the House that fixing the housing crisis is not an easy task. We've never pretended it is. The party that was previously in Government should know that because they tried and failed. Now actually some of their members are more willing than others to acknowledge this. We've had Chris Bishop come out in the last couple of weeks and say that one area where we could've done better is housing. Indeed Simon Bridges said there was actually a housing crisis under National although he does say it's hard to be perfect on everything. Well they certainly weren't on housing. But in the appropriation that we are examining here there are a number of things that start the process of addressing a housing crisis which we have in this country.First of all I would like to talk about the KiwiBuild reset and the $2 billion that is appropriated for this Government to be active again in the area of housing—something that hasn't happened in several decades in New Zealand—and the scale of which we have seen Governments throughout our history who have seen they have a role to play in introducing more New Zealanders to the opportunities of homeownership.So one of the things that I am absolutely proud of as a Government is that we have had the courage to say We need this to work better for New Zealanders."—that we're not going to just stay bloody-mindedly going down a certain track because we said it three years ago. What we're going to do is we are going to make the necessary changes to help more New Zealanders into homes. What I want to know from the Opposition is the money that is under this appropriation that we are talking about—there are 534 affordable KiwiBuild homes currently under construction 1546 homes that have been contracted and a further 8363 houses that have been committed. Is the Opposition saying they are going to walk away from these homes? Is the Opposition going to say they're going to stop these homes being built? I would like to know what the answer is to that. On this side of the House we have made the necessary changes. KiwiBuild is a lever and to mistake it as a target is a mistake we made and why we have had the courage to reset that.One of the things that we do want to track are the changes that the private sector are delivering based on this policy. What we are seeing are more and more developers understanding there is demand in the affordable housing sector in the affordable end of the housing market and they are starting to deliver houses at these and below the KiwiBuild maximums. When I drive around my home town in Christchurch I see billboards for home and land packages for $460000. I see things on Facebook for $415000. This is the first time the market is starting to believe again that there is going to be demand in the affordable sector.Now Mr Brownlee did say that he didn't see in the appropriation or the reset anything about land supply. Well I'd like to reassure you again. You can stop being so stressed Mr Brownlee because this is a stream of work that is under way by the Hon David Parker. Again we know that the previous Government tried it for nine years and couldn't get it across the line. Reforming the Resource Management Act was something the previous Government failed at and something that we have made a commitment to deliver for New Zealanders. Along with that we also have the work under way by the Hon Phil Twyford around the urban development authority and this is about providing shortcuts for people to be able to get—[Bell rung] Madam Chair?CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): I call the Hon Megan Woods.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Thank you. And this is about making sure that we do have that land. The Opposition seems stuck in a rut. They think all that you have to do—because it's what they did in Government—is free up land and magically affordable houses—Hon Gerry Brownlee: It worked.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: —will appear. No Mr Brownlee it did not work. You had a target of 39000 houses under the special housing areas. You delivered 3100 of which 100 could be classified as affordable. The previous Government failed to deliver for New Zealanders affordable—CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Yes but the previous Government doesn't actually feature in the Estimates debate.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: No but we can compare that to what is in the Estimates.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): You can do that certainly.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Thank you Madam Chair. Now I would like to move on to another area that has been brought up: the appropriation around public housing and the issue of waiting lists. We have had speakers question why it is that we have an ever-growing waiting list for our public housing. Well I would like to draw the committee's attention to the number of public housing spaces that we are building and we are delivering. Now there's been a suggestion that these were all planned by the previous Government. This simply is not true. All of the large-scale developments that we looked at when we came into Government—we have put additional public housing places into them because they are a priority for us.So when I look at—not the 1600 we have delivered this year alone—the 2200 public housing spaces that this Government has delivered for New Zealanders I am immensely proud. When I reflect on that appropriation I think of the fact that we have seen in our recent history the previous Government finished with 1500 fewer public housing spaces than they started with. But not only that there was the opportunity cost that they did not build any either. So let's do the back-of-the-envelope on that. If 1600 spaces had been delivered over the nine years they were in Government plus the 1500 fewer we ended with we'd have 14000 extra public houses in this country. That is our entire State house waiting list. So I think it is important for all of us to reflect on that—that we are a Government that is prioritising housing.We are making sure that we are addressing homelessness. We are making sure that we are putting in the work that is required to get people into stable housing. We've seen the announcement by Ministers Faafoi and Sepuloni around the work that we need to do in terms of stabilising tenancies so that we can get more people into rental properties and that they stay in them. That is one of the critical things that we need to do in the fight against homelessness and one this Government is committed to. If we work right through that continuum we've got a large body of work around how it is that we can stop paying to put people up in motels which I know was an emergency measure that the previous Government had to come up with because they had failed in the area of housing.We had people living in cars. But we are not content for that to be the future for too many of our people and we have committed to a programme of work to put in long-term solutions. There certainly weren't any waiting for us when we came into Government. We had to come up with it. So in terms of the homelessness we went through we are a Government that is absolutely committed to social housing not selling them off but actually adding to them every year and that is fundamental to what we are doing in addressing housing issues in this country.We can be proud on this side of the House that we are committed to expanding opportunities for homeownership for New Zealanders as well. Not only have we made the changes around lowering the deposit required in a Welcome Home Loan with a HomeStart grant but also we are putting $400 million aside for progressive homeownership. Hon Gerry Brownlee: What are the conditions?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Mr Brownlee asked for some conditions around that. Well Mr Brownlee progressive homeownership is something that's been up and running in this country for a while. I don't know if you've ever been and visited one but it can operate in a variety of ways. If we look at the model that the Housing Foundation operate that is shared equity. If we have a look at some of the other schemes like Habitat for Humanity around rent to buy there are a variety of conditions. The number that we have said that we will help through this $400 million is between 2500 and 4000 families a year over four years. This is substantial and this is a game-changer."