2. Question No. 2—HousingDr LIZ CRAIG (Labour) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 2—Housing2. Dr LIZ CRAIG (Labour) to the Minister of Housing: What action is the Government taking to increase the supply of housing outside the main urban centres?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Kia orana Mr Speaker. As part of the Government's plan to tackle the national housing crisis we're delivering more public homes outside New Zealand's main urban centres. The Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 focuses on building new public and transitional homes where they are most needed including regional centres and towns where housing demand is growing fastest. This wasn't happening before. In order to do this we're building effective collaborative partnerships between Government iwi and Māori community housing providers local government and the construction industry. We've also changed the funding settings for community housing providers (CHPs) and Kāinga Ora which has enabled them to claim a higher operating supplement to incentivise developments in priority locations. Changes to the rent maxima have also enabled CHPs to build outside of our main centres. There is no silver bullet to solving the national housing crisis that we inherited and there is plenty more work to do. But our Government is continuing to invest to boost the supply of public homes in our regional towns and centres.Rachel Boyack: Have any of the Government's 10000 new public homes been added in Nelson?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I'm proud to say that we've added 158 public homes in Nelson since coming to Government and have another 161 planned out to July 2025. This is a game-changer for Nelson who between 2008 and 2017 saw a net loss of 16 public houses. We are also improving the current stock of Nelson with 18 of the homes in Nelson being upgraded through the retrofit programme. These are homes that will improve people's lives.Tāmati Coffey: How many of the Government's 10000 new public homes are in Rotorua?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: We have made good progress in Rotorua with 209 additional public houses. This is starting to unwind the damage done by the previous National Government who ended up with 44 fewer houses in Rotorua in 2017. There are also a further 300 public homes currently under construction in Rotorua. Rotorua is a priority for us for developing additional housing supply more broadly and it's why we funded additional infrastructure through the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund to enable over 3000 additional homes in that area.Chris Bishop: Has she had any discussions with the Minister of Health who's getting Shortland Street to help him recruit nurses about utilising the TV programme The Block to actually help her build some houses?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: No because we are a Government that actually—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order!Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: No because we're actually a Government that has policy on housing. I'm yet to hear one from the National Opposition.Anna Lorck: Are any of the Government's 10000 new public houses in Hastings?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Hastings is seeing an additional 157 public homes added under this Government. Unfortunately there was a net loss of 192 public homes in Hastings between 2008 and 2017. The work this Government is doing is bringing and will continue to bring new public housing to the regions to undo the damage. I am also happy to report that another 133 public home builds are currently in progress and 75 more are in the planning stages.Dr Emily Henderson: Have any of the Government's 10000 new public homes been delivered in Whangārei? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I'm happy to report that our Government has added 166 new public homes in Whangārei over the past five years and there are over 500 in the pipeline for delivery by 2024/2025. This was an area that the previous Government did make some progress on; over nine years they added five houses. We are proud of our record but we know there is more to be done and that's why we are making good progress on the Puriri Park development which will bring 37 new homes to Whangārei by the end of this year.