Massey East houses a start but Smith should think bigger

new-zealand-labour-party

Fri Jun 17 2016 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Massey East houses a start but Smith should think bigger

Friday, 17 June 2016, 11:16 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Phil Twyford

MP for Te Atatū
Housing Spokesperson

MEDIA STATEMENT

17 June 2016

Massey East houses a start but Nick Smith should think bigger

The Massey East 196-home development is a start but the Government must think bigger if it is to end the housing crisis, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says.

“It is great the Government is finally realising it needs to build actual houses that people can live in if wants to increase the supply of homes in our biggest city.

“However, 196 houses is just a drop in the bucket when Auckland is already facing a shortfall of 40,000 homes.

“The first development agreement under Nick Smith’s much-touted surplus Crown land programme was supposed to be announced in in October last year and the first house completed late this year.

“This development is now delayed by nine months because the Government refused to acknowledge right of first refusal rights for iwi.

“Instead of 500 hectares of land delivering thousands of homes and the first about to be finished, we have only 196 homes confirmed, only 13 hectares of land identified for development and homes still likely to be another 18 months away.

“If National is serious about restoring the Kiwi dream of home ownership, it should adopt Labour’s KiwiBuild programme to build 100,000 affordable houses over a decade and clamp down on offshore speculators pushing prices beyond the reach of middle New Zealand,” Phil Twyford says.

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