SpeechHousingANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee): Thank you Mr Chair. As the chair of the Social Services and Community Committee it is my pleasure to lead off the debate for the social housing sector review for the 2021 financial year. In keeping with our whole-of-sector approach the Hon Dr Megan Woods appeared before the select committee to discuss housing in total. I want to thank the Minister for attending this additional session to the whole-of-sector questions. I thank the respective board chairs CEOs and officials for appearing and responding to written and oral questions. The three entities reviewed were Kāinga Ora—Home and Communities with the Auditor-General giving an overall rating of good; the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga which the Auditor-General issued a standard audit report of a rating of good—we were pleased to see the performance improvement from the previous year—and Tāmaki Redevelopment Company Ltd which the Auditor-General issued a standard audit report with a very good rating. Our select committee written report was split into four topics. Each topic was divided into subtopics and I particularly want to thank the select committee clerk and team for their excellent drafting of our 27-page report.We heard of the challenges of COVID-19 in particular in Auckland. We also heard of innovations to improve public housing delays due to the pandemic such as modules and panels constructed off site private sector labour and expertise and multi-year contracts to ensure confidence in capacity and capability. We heard that there has been decades of underspending in infrastructure. We also heard about demand and supply and the Progressive Home Ownership scheme which includes shared ownership rent to buy and leasehold wraparound.We heard about Te Au Taketake which is a Government housing package and of the $3.8 billion allocated to accelerate housing supply with programmes such as first-home grants extension of the brightline test with an extension on new builds and extending the Apprenticeship Boost to further support trades training. We heard about the changes in rules to limit deductions on interest expenses and that the biggest contributor to renting pressure was supply. We were told that there is a multiplicity of challenges in the housing sector and that COVID-19 has significantly affected these challenges.Tāmaki Redevelopment told us that they had created a whānau debt relief programme. They noted whānau in the Shared Home Ownership programme decreased debt by 74 percent and increased income by 33 percent and savings by 31 percent. We heard also about the Jobs and Skills Hubs and about partnering under the iwi Māori housing strategy with Kāinga Ora and Ngāti Toa Rangatira using the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund.Kāinga Ora told us about their large-scale projects which are regenerative for Auckland and Porirua. Kāinga Ora have increased residential spending to $2.5 billion. HUD advised us that it ensures that expectations and requirements of Kāinga Ora are clear and are actively monitored. We heard that Kāinga Ora has delivered a net increase of 395 homes in the 2021 year. The Minister advised us that gross build yields was much higher. There were 857 homes demolished 11 leased 277 bought and 1866 built. The Minister said that the Government has funded an increase of 8861 public housing places since 2017.We learnt that 21 percent of Kāinga Ora housing was compliant with the healthy homes standard and that 45000 of the 68000 homes will need to be renewed or replaced. The Minister updated us with the current figures and advised that Kāinga Ora continue to increase the pace of the healthy homes delivery programme. We also heard that Kāinga Ora has a current goal of 15 percent of its new public housing meeting universal housing standards. We also discussed topics such as feeling safe in public housing community crime addressing antisocial behaviour managing construction providers and partners the Public Service Commission investigation and the Kāinga Ora debt profile. Our select committee review was extensive and we look forward to hearing more from the housing Ministers today and thank you Mr Chair.