10. Question No. 10—HousingRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 10—Housing10. RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) to the Minister of Housing: Is she committed to ensuring everyone on the public housing waiting list has an accessible affordable and healthy public home to live in; if so why has her Government not committed to funding the public housing building programme beyond June 2025?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): In answer to the first part of the question yes through a combination of our continued commitment to public housing affordable rentals and affordable housing settings more broadly. I'm proud that since 2017 we have delivered 12000 more public homes. That is the most public houses being delivered each year since Walter Nash's second Labour Government in the 1950s. In answer to the second part of the question a future Labour Government will continue to build on the successive increases we've made to public housing since 2017. For example when we came into Government there was $900 million in baseline for income-related rent subsidy (IRRS) funding. In Budget 2023 there is now $1.6 billion—almost double what it was in 2017. It is this increased funding that has allowed for the largest housing-build programme adding to our State houses since the 1950s. We may be building the most public homes each year since Walter Nash but we recognise the job is not done.Ricardo Menéndez March: What is the estimated number of people that will still be on the public housing waiting list without a secure home in five years based on the current number of public homes projected to be built by her Government?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: As I said in the answer to the primary question the way in which we clear a public housing waiting list isn't only through the provision of public housing. For example this Government has committed $350 million to work with community housing providers to rebuild a missing part of the New Zealand housing system and that is in community-led affordable rental properties. That will be an important part of the solution. Of course a continued commitment to building public houses is a critical part of that and I look to the 21000 places that this Government has funded through to 2025. My only regret is that that is only just making up for the 20000 fewer houses that we have in New Zealand today as a result of nine years of a National Government who did not build houses and they ended up with 1500 fewer houses even after you account for the transfer to community housing providers. We'd have 20000 more houses today. Ricardo Menéndez March: What is the number of people that will still be on the public housing waiting list in five years based on her current commitments who sign up to the public housing waiting list to go into State housing?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I've given the answer to that in previous questions. It is impossible to give that number because there are a variety of ways in which people come off the public housing waiting list. Some of that will be into affordable community provider - led housing rather than through IRRS funding. Some of the people on the public housing waiting list for example may be youth who can be funded in some of the youth facilities that the member's colleague is rolling out as part of her Budget funding. There's a variety of ways in which that can be achieved so it's impossible to give that member that number.Ricardo Menéndez March: If she acknowledges in her primary answer that there is more work to be done why has her Government not committed to funding the public housing building programme beyond 2025?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: We have funded the public housing build programme out to 2025. It will be up to each and every party in this House in their costed manifestos—costed manifestos—to show what their commitment is to public housing both in terms of the capital needed for building but also in terms of the operational funding required to fund additional places. Labour will stand by its record. You do not add the most number of public houses since the 1950s without having a deep commitment to public housing like the Labour Party does.Ricardo Menéndez March: Why does Kāinga Ora not collect data on how many times they've had to apply for consent to build higher density and how does she know if planning barriers are holding back high-quality medium-density public housing?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Kāinga Ora obviously does collect data around how it's doing in terms of its intensification. It's a large part of the work that we do in our large-scale projects which is the redevelopment of several neighbourhoods in Auckland and of course the work that's going on here in Porirua closer to where we are. Density and intensification is a critical part of how we will increase our supply but it is not the only way because one of the areas where our Government is committed to focusing on delivery for the additional 3000 places funded in this year's Budget is building in some of those regional towns and centres that have not seen additional public houses for decades.