Comprehensive approach will address Housing demand and supply

Priyanca Radhakrishnan
Auckland, April 27, 2021

Kia ora koutou!

As the elected MP for Maungakiekie, it is important that I make myself as available to my constituents as possible.

I have been holding street corner meetings and regular clinics to hear what is important to them and to provide assistance wherever possible.

Housing is, undoubtedly, one of the most common issues raised by my constituents.

New Zealand’s housing crisis has been decades in the making, and there is no silver bullet fix.

Six major steps

Our government is taking a comprehensive approach to addressing both demand and supply issues to make housing more affordable for those who have been locked out of the housing market. We are (1) Making it easier for first home buyers to get into a property, by lifting the income caps on the First Home Loan and First Home Grant programmes so more people can access this support (2) Helping to tip the balance in favour of first home buyers by extending the bright-line test from five years to 10 years, and by closing a long-standing tax loophole that benefits property speculators (3) Removing barriers holding up the building of new homes. (4) Launching a $3.8 billion Housing Acceleration Fund, which will speed up the pace and scale of house building and jumpstart developments by funding the vital infrastructure like pipes and transport links needed for new housing (5) Incentivising investment in new builds, which will help drive demand and ensure more houses are being built (6) Making sure we have the skilled workforce we need to build more houses, by extending our Apprenticeship Boost payment, which has already enabled businesses to take on 21,000 apprentices.

Making a difference

Together, these changes will make a real difference for people looking to buy their first home, and they’ll build on the foundations we laid last term.

For example, we stopped National’s state house sell-off and banned foreign speculators.

We are also undertaking the largest public housing build programme since the 1970s, as well as making life easier for Kiwis who rent.

Of course, there is more to do to ensure that everyone has a warm, dry home to call their own and we’ll continue working towards that goal.

While we are focused on increasing the supply of homes, our government is also mindful of the need to build houses that are close to transport links, shops, public amenities and green spaces so that we also build vibrant, strong, safe communities.

As always, Maungakiekie residents are free to get in touch if there is anything that my team and I can do to assist them in any way.

We will be moving office soon so that we can be more accessible to local constituents.

We will advertise our new contact details shortly.

Priyanca Radhakrishnan is elected Member of Parliament from Maungakiekie in Auckland. She is the Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities, Minister for Community & Voluntary Sector and Minister for Youth. Email: PriyancaMP@parliament.govt.nz