NRT: 2,000 new homes? Yeah, right

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, February 19th, 2013 - 6 comments
Categories: housing, john key, national - Tags: , ,

I’d like to add my voice (r0b) to those wishing No Right Turn a very happy “birthday”. I/S is one of the hardest working, sharpest bloggers out there, and ten years of blogging is an amazing contribution. Long may you continue to keep the bastards (on all sides of the political spectrum) honest. And thanks for your ongoing licence to repost on The Standard. Speaking of which…

2,000 new homes? Yeah, right

In last year’s Budget, Prime Minister John Key made a clear promise to the New Zealand people:

In terms of housing, the Government is itself planning to build more than 2,000 houses over the next two financial years

So, how many new homes did the Government build last year? Just 68. And the year before it built only 56 [PDF, p. 22]. Against that background, Key’s promise looks… overambitious.

So are they actually intending to act on that promise? If they were, I’d expect to see a line in the Budget 2012 Estimate of Appropriation for Vote Housing [PDF] labelled “capital expenditure: build 2,000 new houses over two years”. No such line exists. In its absence, I think we can treat this promise as pure hot air.

6 comments on “NRT: 2,000 new homes? Yeah, right ”

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  1. CnrJoe 1
    19 February 2013 at 8:39 am

    NRT – my must read and very grateful that I/S is doing its thing.
    Can’t be having any of the phantasy role playing carry-on tho – dffrnt strokes..

  2. Colonial Viper 2
    19 February 2013 at 8:57 am

    If the Governmeent built 68 houses last year and only 56 the year before, that’s a massive 21% year on year increase.

    Who could ask for more?

    • Tom Gould 2.1
      19 February 2013 at 10:30 am

      And the promise was ‘aspirational’, remember. Actually getting 124 houses built is a triumph, really. It’s 124 houses we wouldn’t have had Key not been elected. What a great bloke, caring for ordinary Kiwis that way. He’s got a big heart, that guy, and we’re so luck to have him. He could easy be doing something else, and making way more money, but he has chosen to devote himself to the people. What a selfless act of patriotism. What a guy.

      • Colonial Viper 2.1.1
        20 February 2013 at 10:51 pm

        Don’t forget he donates his whole salary to the Red Cross. Or the Womens Refuge. Or UNICEF. Maybe.

  3. Annette King 3
    19 February 2013 at 4:17 pm

    I agree NRT. At the Select Committee last week in open session a HNZ official said ‘I would caution the dividing of (building state houses) into financial years. It’s actually a 2 year window. We do need to build these in a sensible time frame’.

    So 2000 new houses promised by Key over the next 2 financial years has already been watered down to a ‘2 year window’ some where, some time. The track record is poor- 112 in 2009, 68 by 2011/12.

    Another warning . The 2000 so called state houses may not be ‘State’ houses as we know them at all. According to the same official last week, ‘State housing is a loose term.’ What’s envisaged is the State being involved in the housing development and it may be affordable housing for home ownership’. In other words the 600 houses being built at Hobsonville which the government announced in mid November in a rushed effort to preempt Labour’s policy are to be sold to private owners and can be counted as state houses! Nothing more than a dirty little political stunt. So much for an increase in state housing and Key’s hollow promises at a time when he knows the waiting lists, particularly in ChCh and Auckland are growing.

  4. ropata 4
    20 February 2013 at 10:27 pm

    don’t worry, keyster will give us 500 pokie machines instead