Up to 275 more families in Bay of Plenty will have warm, dry, and secure new homes built over the next four years, as a result of the Government's comprehensive Public Housing Plan released today by Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford.

'The Government's fully funded Public Housing Plan will build 6,400 new homes for families in need.” says Phil.

'The national housing crisis has hurt too many New Zealanders; from those locked out of the Kiwi dream of home ownership, to those left homeless and those suffering the health effects of poor quality housing.

'The single most important thing the Government can do to solve the housing crisis is to build more affordable homes, and the best way to tackle homelessness is to build more public housing.

'We're making a great start in Bay of Plenty with concrete plans for 250 more public housing places.”

On top of this, the Ministry of Social Development will be partnering with Community Housing Providers, developers, Housing New Zealand, councils and others to build around 275 additional homes.

In Bay of Plenty, there are currently 2,661 public housing places, giving families and individuals warm, dry, and safe homes, for as long as they need it.

'Public housing is an essential part of helping families and vulnerable people with one of their most basic needs, housing.

'It will take bold action to fix the housing crisis created over the past decade and the Public Housing Plan is another step in the right direction. Demand for housing changes all the time, and we'll constantly monitor what's needed and will continue to invest in places where New Zealanders need public housing the most.”

Government announcement

The Government is today announcing locations around New Zealand for 6400 new public housing places being built over the next four years which were funded as part of Budget 2018.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford has released the 2018 Public Housing Plan which outlines the number and size of the homes which will be part of the biggest public housing programme in more than a decade.

The plan will see 3550 new public housing places being made available in Auckland with thousands of much-needed new state houses in regions around New Zealand. This has been fully funded through a combination of:

• $234.4 million in operating funding from Budget 2018,
• $2.9 billion of Housing New Zealand borrowing from third parties, with a further $900 million from its operations.

Phil says the national housing crisis had hurt too many New Zealanders: 'From those locked out of the Kiwi dream of home ownership, to those left homeless and those suffering the health effects of poor quality housing.

'The single most important thing the Government can do to solve the housing crisis is to build more affordable homes, and the best way to tackle homelessness is to build more public housing.

'Nationwide, there are currently 67,228 public housing places, giving families and individuals warm, dry, and safe homes, for as long as they need it.

Over the next four years the Ministry of Social Development will work with Housing New Zealand and community housing providers to build as many additional public housing places as possible, within available funding – this may mean that the number of additional public housing places built by 2022 is more than 6400.