12. Question No. 12—HousingNICOLA WILLIS (National) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 12—Housing12. NICOLA WILLIS (National) to the Minister of Housing: Is the Government on track to deliver the 800 KiwiBuild houses she estimated would be built in the 2020/21 financial year and will that include completion of the 176 KiwiBuild homes contracted by Kāinga Ora for construction by Ormiston Rise Development?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Thank you Mr Speaker. The forecasted 800 KiwiBuild homes outlined to the member in the answer to written parliamentary question No. 3946 on 9 March were on track for delivery in the current financial year. However as the member is aware the Ormiston Rise development was placed into receivership last Friday and this does call into question whether these homes will be completed by June 2021 but I'd like to stress it does not necessarily call into question whether these homes will be completed. However I do note that many of the purchasers of these homes were working to an October 2021 move-in date and the latest advice I have is that expectations are still that the first homeowners will move in in quarter four 2021—that is between October and December 2021. I'd also like to take the opportunity to clarify a couple of points for the member. Firstly since the answer to her written question was lodged the number of KiwiBuild homes for stage one at Ormiston has been reforecast to 173 because three properties were transferred into stage two of the development due for delivery in 2022 and secondly KiwiBuild does not contract homes for construction. Under the Buying Off the Plans programme KiwiBuild provides underwrites to enable homes to be delivered by private developers. Nicola Willis: Did she discuss additional financial assistance for Ormiston Rise with officials during the intensive discussions" she had with them over the weekend and on Monday and if not what was discussed? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Yes I did ask officials whether or not there was any request from the receivers for additional financial support because of this development 173 in stage one are KiwiBuild homes and 190 of the properties are included in that stage. The answer that I got from officials is that the intensive discussions had actually been happening between officials and the receivers not me—I don't get into either intensive or intense discussions—but in terms of those conversations it was very clear that finance was not the issue or the reason why the receivers had been called in. In fact the finance is looking secure and in fact the financier has an equity interest in the development so is therefore highly motivated to complete this development. I think what the member and all members of this House should be aware of is that many of these homes are very near completion. Many are very close to the code compliance stage of development so there is a lot of sunk cost and everybody is highly motivated to realise the value and complete this development. Nicola Willis: Well if it wasn't financial reasons that meant the receivers were called in what was the reason? SPEAKER: Order! Order! I'll let—strictly it's not the Minister's responsibility. Hon Gerry Brownlee: No she gave the answer. SPEAKER: She might have referred to it but it's still not—have a go. Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Oh I'm happy to talk to that because of course this is something that came up in discussions and something that I would have asked my officials of what that was. The lenders and the financiers at Ormiston Rise became concerned about construction progress and construction has been paused for a period of around two weeks for that progress to be evaluated. Nicola Willis: What does she say to the KiwiBuild buyer in the Ormiston Rise development who said "One of the reasons why we went with KiwiBuild is because it is run by the Government. It should be safe." and does she commit to KiwiBuild buyers in Ormiston Rise that their houses will be completed on time? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I've addressed many of the issues that the member raised in that question but I am happy to answer it because that person has also written to me and I'm in the middle of writing a response to them. So what I can say to them is that the Government does stand behind this project. As I've explained to the member in a previous answer finance is not the issue—that finance is looking to be secure—and what I would ask that member is not to scaremonger for political purposes. There are a group of first-home buyers that don't deserve for their anxiety levels to be taken up further. Nicola Willis: Does she commit that the KiwiBuild homes in the Ormiston Rise development will be delivered on time? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: As I've intimated in previous answers that the member's asked in this line of questioning we have had pauses to construction for a couple of weeks although I haven't received official advice of what the delay might be. I would expect there will be a delay. When you do pause construction that tends to occur. But as I said the advice I have had is the first purchasers can expect to move into the properties in quarter four of this year. The expectation of most of the purchasers that I've been in communication with was an October move-in date. Nicola Willis: Supplementary. SPEAKER: No the member's used all her supplementaries."