Twyford Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is subject to correctionTwyford Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 26 June 2014. Volume:702;Page:18941. Text is subject to correction.]6.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū)to the Minister of Housing: How many homes out of the 5000 earthquake damaged Housing New Zealand homes have completed repairs as part of its Repair 5000 programme?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Housing):Twenty-seven thousand emergency repairs were completed on those 5000 State homes in the immediate period after the earthquake to enable as many as possible to continue to be used. A comprehensive settlement for the substantive repairs for $320 million was reached last April and 1368 have now been fully repaired. We also have 360 new homes under construction to replace those that it was neither economic nor sensible to repair.Phil Twyford: Does he stand by his statement that “Five years is not unreasonable.” to stabilise rents in Christchurch; if so what convinced him that 8½ years is a reasonable time for families living in campervans and cars the over 500 families on the Housing New Zealand waiting list and the 7400 people whom the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment says are living in insecure housing to have to wait for the affordable rental housing he has promised given that the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority says things are going to get worse before they get better?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I would note that the portion of Housing New Zealand homes that have been repaired is significantly ahead of the pace of the Christchurch City Council’s own social housing and it is actually going faster than those homes that are in the private sector. When you have an earthquake that wrecks 12000 houses and you have an average of 1500 homes usually built in Christchurch—and we have it up to 3000 new building consents being issued per year—that is the time it takes to build and repair those homes.Poto Williams: Can he confirm from his own press release dated 11 April that of the 700 Housing New Zealand new builds he promised in May last year only 20 houses have been completed or was that a typo and it is more than 20 houses actually built a year later?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: We have committed to completing those 5000 repairs and those 700 new builds by the end of 2015. We are on track to do that and I note that the pace at which we are replacing and repairing homes for Housing New Zealand is ahead of that of the Christchurch City Council and that of the private sector.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a very specific question from the member and the Minister did not address it.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Before I address that I will take the point of order from the Minister. The trouble was that it was not that specific a question but I will hear from the Hon Nick Smith.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: This was not a question on notice and to be asked for the exact number of houses that have been completed is not reasonable for a Minister to have at his fingertips.Mr SPEAKER: I appreciate that and the best way forward—and this is advice to all members—is simply to say at the start of an answer: “I do not have that information with me.”Poto Williams: Why has he done next to nothing to help the thousands of Christchurch families who have had to pay extortionate rents while they are having their repairs done exacerbating the chronic shortage of affordable rental housing and holding up the progress of the rebuild?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: It is a purely political statement to say that the Government has not done anything in respect of housing. I could spend the entire afternoon in the House explaining all the things that we have done. Let me give you a few examples. We built four temporary villages. We have established the Canterbury Earthquake Temporary Accommodation Service and provided help for thousands of families. We have completed 27000 emergency repairs. We have 1000 people currently engaged on repairing those Housing New Zealand houses and they are being repaired at a faster rate than those either in the private sector or not. We have partnered with the community sector to build dozens of houses. We have partnered with the Community Trust in Canterbury for additional houses. It is simply not correct for the member opposite to say that this Government has not been incredibly active in dealing with those housing challenges.Phil Twyford: Does he stand by his assertion that Deloitte was wrong when it said that “New home/replacement home building is not yet well advanced. Less than 1000 houses have been built under his watch out of the 12-15000 needed”; if so how many new homes have actually been built as opposed to merely consented since the February 2011 earthquakes?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The member opposite runs this line: “A consent isn’t a house.” Well let me tell him something: you cannot build a house without a consent and the number of homes that have been consented in Christchurch is at the highest level ever—over 3000 per year. In fact last week we had the member’s colleague criticising the Government because there was too much building activity occurring in the GDP figures.