9. Question No. 9—HousingRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 9—Housing9. RAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) to the Minister of Housing: Does she have confidence in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Yes because since establishing the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development our Government is delivering the largest public housing build programme in a generation implementing the Homelessness Action Plan supporting Māori housing aspirations through a dedicated Māori and Iwi Housing Innovation work stream and record investment for Māori housing in this year's Budget transforming suburbs across Auckland and Porirua through the large-scale projects and supporting first-home buyers through KiwiBuild; progressive homeownership including a dedicated pathway for iwi Māori providers; first-home loans and grants; rolling out the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund; and much much more. Rawiri Waititi: Does she have confidence in the emergency and transitional housing programme given that suppliers are providing unhealthy accommodation—in the words of one of my constituents rat-infested rooms that are damp rooms without adequate heating rooms with bedbugs and rotten furniture and mould."? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Yes I do have confidence in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. I think it's really important for the member to realise that there are several ways in which motels are offered. One is through the long-term contracted motels that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development provides and then there is the more ad hoc hotel accommodation that is provided through emergency special needs housing grants. Now as we've discussed before the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) does not have the ability to do long-term contracting of motel units. That is why the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is working in partnership with the MSD so that we can transition—in Rotorua for example—to where we can have longer-term contracted. We can have more wraparound services and ensure that quality standards are being adhered to. Rawiri Waititi: What screening protocols and measures are used to ensure that emergency and transitional housing suppliers are providing safe and healthy accommodation for vulnerable whānau and why are emergency and transitional housing providers exempt from the healthy homes standard? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: In terms of the long-term contracts that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is putting into place in terms of our transitional housing places there is a lot of work with providers to ensure that they are suitable not only from a physical point of view but that also we have the capacity to put in place the wraparound services. So it's not just the warm part of the healthy homes standard; it is also that we can provide those wraparound services. Rawiri Waititi: Has the Minister received any reports relating to the mistreatment and discrimination of our vulnerable whānau by emergency and transitional housing suppliers? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: No. I do note that that member has written to me about a case that he is dealing with in his electorate office which I'm more than happy to discuss with him but I would like to respect the privacy of the individual in this House. Nicola Willis: Does she have confidence that each of the 1205 new staff hired across the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and Kāinga Ora are there to—and I quote her earlier statement—"build some houses" and if so how many of those new staff have trade certificates? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Yes I have confidence in those staff. I think the member is being ridiculous. In just the same way we don't have everyone in our Ministry of Education with a current teaching certificate. Hon Michael Woodhouse: Point of order Mr Speaker. The question wasn't addressed. It wasn't the confidence in the staff but the staff's ability to build houses and that wasn't addressed. SPEAKER: The very first word was "Yes"—it's answered. I should've stopped her at that point. Rawiri Waititi: What protections are available to our vulnerable whānau to address their concerns without "fear of being kicked out with nowhere to go" when many whānau in my electorate have consistently made complaints to my office about being issued two-day eviction notices? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Evictions are incredibly rare in transitional housing. Every attempt is made to put the right support around the individuals or the whānau that are in those facilities—and as I say incredibly rare. There of course is always the recourse that the member has brought a case that is in his electorate that he would like to discuss with me and I'm more than willing to do that but I do not want to get into the specifics of that individual case in this House."