Brian Rudman: House building targets remain elusive as ever
Nothing quite underlines the Government's on-going failure to solve Auckland's housing crisis as the latest Auckland Council figures admitting that only 7200 new houses were completed in 2016. This is only half the 14,000 needed just to cope with annual population growth, let alone reduce the estimated 35,000 shortfall build up over recent years. This is also well short of the 9500 new houses a year, Housing Minister Nick Smith, was claiming credit for this time last year, in a Budget press release. Yesterday's desperate catch-up attempt by Social Housing Minister Amy Adams is a welcome gesture, but her grandly titled Crown Building Project will in effect only add 2,600 houses a year for the next ten, which is an underwhelming response to a full blown calamity. And given this…