4770 (2025). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Minister of Housing

4770 (2025). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Minister of Housing: Does he agree with the Salvation Army in their State of the Nation 2025 report that "The large increase in available supply of public housing during 2024 has contributed to a significant decline in the number of people identified as needing public housing" and if so, which government provided the funding for those public houses?

Hon Chris Bishop: We have seen a steady increase in the provision of social housing as a response to national housing insecurity and the fact that too many Kiwi families are living in emergency housing motels or sleeping on relatives’ couches while they wait to move into warm, dry, stable housing. I agree with the statement by the Salvation Army in their State of the Nation 2025 report that an increase in social housing will significantly contribute to the decline in the number of people identified as needing social housing. That is why this government has committed to allocating $140 million in new funding for 1,500 new social housing places to be provided by Community Housing Providers (CHPs) from July 2025. The first 500 places will be focused on ‘maintaining momentum’ of social housing delivery and supporting the Government’s emergency housing reduction target in the near term. Work is underway on the allocation of the remaining 1000 places to be delivered, largely by strategic partnerships. Providing meaningful finance to CHPs will give them a stronger economic case for building more social houses, and will contribute toward CHPs and Kāinga Ora working on a level playing field to deliver social housing. Decisions around further funding for social housing will be considered in future budgets. Because the houses were built after 27 November 2023, they were built under the current government, however, funding for development is often allocated two or three years out from when the building starts, as is the nature of housing funding policy.