Focus Live: Housing Minister Megan Woods announces KiwiBuild reset
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has teased details of tomorrow's much-anticipated KiwiBuild reset, saying the Government has tried to be as "creative as possible".
He also revealed that parts of KiwiBuild would remain in the Government's reset building programme.
This comes after speculation from National that KiwiBuild as a policy would be erased altogether, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has refused to confirm if the name KiwiBuild would remain after the reset.
Housing Minister Megan Woods will tomorrow unveil the new-look policy after KiwiBuild collapsed, falling well short of its build targets.
Ardern has been coy on discussing details of the reset, telling reporters this and last week they would have to wait for Wednesday's announcement.
But speaking to Breakfast this morning, Robertson shed some light on the upcoming announcement.
Asked if the new-look KiwiBuild would be a new and improved policy, he said "definitely". "KiwiBuild, as we have known it, will still form a part of our future but we recognise we have got to get the systems right."
He said there will be a few new, and a few revised, elements.
The Government, he said, has tried to be "as creative as possible" when it comes to getting people into houses.
Robertson also revealed some of the elements the Government got wrong when it came to the policy.
"We have had houses being built in places where perhaps there wasn't the demand there.
"I know Minister Woods' mantra is 'the right house in the right place' and I think that is what we really fundamentally have got to get going here."
Housing Minister Megan Woods (left) will tomorrow unveil the new-look policy after KiwiBuild collapsed, falling well short of its build targets. Photo / Mark Mitchell
KiwiBuild development sites in places like Wanaka and Te Kauwhata failed to attract much demand from potential buyers.
Robertson said the Government wants to do better when it comes to housing – "I think we have the plan to do that now".
In January, former Housing Minister Phil Twyford said the KiwiBuild reset was coming in a few weeks.
That was subsequently pushed out to April, then to June. In June, Twyford said it was coming in early July and in July, Woods – who took over Twyford's Housing portfolio – confirmed Cabinet would get to see the new proposal in late August.
The Government's initial promise was 1000 KiwiBuild homes would be completed by July this year, then 5000 by next year, then 12,000 a year each year until 2028.
But as of late June, just 119 KiwiBuild houses had been built.
