Housing Minister, Megan Woods, has announced a significant boost to regional public housing over the two years with the release of the Government’s latest housing plan update today.
“We’re delivering the most public homes each year since the Nash government of the 1950s with one in six homes in New Zealand’s entire public housing stock having been delivered in the last six years,” Minister Woods said.
“Most of the 13,000 public homes delivered are brand new builds, and we’ve provided over 4,000 more transitional homes with wrap around services, but we’re just getting started.”
The Minister said the Updated Public Housing Plan: Including 2024 -2025 delivery outlines where in New Zealand, the 3,000 additional homes announced in Budget 2023, will be built.
“Regions like the Bay of Plenty will get up to an extra 390 public homes and the East Coast up to 300 more homes, on top of what’s already in the pipeline. The update has a particular focus on increasing public housing in the regions compared to major metropolitan centres, which have seen strong public housing delivery to date,” she said.
“We are on track to provide the 21,000 public and transitional homes we have funded, by 2025. This is a stark turnaround since the National government ended up with 1,500 fewer public homes than it started with, sucked out in $576 million in dividends, and failed to invest and build more housing.
“I’m immensely proud that our commitment to public housing is giving individuals and whānau living in unsuitable accommodation or who are homeless, a better chance to have a stable and affordable place to live,” the Minister said.
