The Government’s Auckland housing plans lack substance and are years behind where they should be, the Green Party said today. Bill English has said he has no information about how much land he plans to sell off as part of planned redevelopments, and can’t say how many new houses will be sold at affordable prices, in answers to written parliamentary questions from the Green Party. “The Minister responsible for Housing NZ has no idea how much land he’s going to...

A huge leap in Special Needs Grants show that more and more New Zealanders cannot afford the basics of life, the Green Party said today. Figures released from the Ministry of Social Development late yesterday show that in the last year there has been a 46.4 percent increase in Special Needs Grants payments, which people apply for to pay for things including emergency housing and food. The total amount of hardship assistance provided by the Government has increased 27.4 percent...

Reports that Housing New Zealand is about to run out of money, just as it’s supposed to be building new houses to alleviate the housing crisis, is a symptom of National’s economic mismanagement, the Green Party said today. “Bill English has run Housing New Zealand into the ground and now he’s going to have to do an emergency bail-out,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said. “Bill English should have used Housing New Zealand to kick-start a Government-building programme back in...

Labour, the Green Party and the Māori Party are calling on the Government to immediately adopt the 20 recommendations set out in today’s Ending Homelessness in New Zealand report. This morning, the Cross-Party Inquiry into Homelessness has released its final report. Over the last several months the Inquiry has received hundreds of written and oral submissions from around New Zealand, which have been brought together into one report along with a set of 20 recommendations. Notable recommendations include: Rolling out...

Bill English should release the details of the new houses he says will be built by the Government, including how affordable they’ll actually be, the Green Party said today. Finance Minister Bill English has announced that the Government’s building programme in Auckland will increase under the Unitary Plan, after years of insisting the Government shouldn’t be building houses itself. “It looks like National may have finally discovered how to build houses, just in time for the election next year, but...

A new poll shows New Zealanders have grasped the realities of the housing crisis better than the Prime Minister and his Government, the Green Party said today. New data from UMR shows that 85 percent of Aucklanders say there is a housing crisis, and 60 percent of Aucklanders and 55 percent of home-owners nationwide believe house prices should come down. “It’s clear that most New Zealanders know National has let Auckland house prices get out of control and it’s now...

Reports that people in Auckland are looking for driveways to park and live in their cars shows how bad the housing crisis has got, the Green Party said today. “In eight years under National we’ve become a country where for too many people, having a home to call your own is a privilege, not a right,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei. “We’re seeing hardworking people with jobs who can’t afford to rent a home for them and their families....

The Government’s backdown on forcing Housing New Zealand (HNZ) to pay a multimillion-dollar dividend shows that the Government can take measures to help end the housing crisis if it really wants to, the Green Party said today. “Reinvesting HNZ dividends to build more houses just makes sense and I’m pleased the Government is finally showing some flexibility on this,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “It was perverse that National was forcing HNZ to pay a dividend back to the...

Paula Bennett and her Government colleagues’ continual denial that there’s a housing crisis is the number one impediment to solving our country’s housing issues, the Green Party said today. Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei will today hold the Minister for Social Housing to account at Question Time for her part in the worsening affordable and social housing emergency. “As long as Paula Bennett, John Key and Bill English keep saying there’s no housing crisis, we’re not going to see enough...

The Green Party today announced a plan to build hundreds of new state homes to help house New Zealanders who are living in cars, garages or on the streets. The Homes Not Cars policy allows Housing New Zealand to retain its dividend and, in addition, would refund its tax, freeing up $207 million in the next financial year to spend on the emergency building of around 450 new state houses. “We have a housing emergency in this country, happening right...