The game of political shenanigans and tit-for-tat press releases around New Zealand's housing problems continued yesterday and are likely to continue for some time yet.
Labour finance spokesman Grant Robertson called on National to explain who was right in the Housing New Zealand dividend "debacle'' after Finance Minister Bill English said no decision had been made on a payment for the next two years.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce appeared to indicate on Twitter on Monday the Government had made the decision to forgo the Housing NZ dividend of about $92 million so money could go into building more houses.
But this year's Budget documents showed dividends from Housing NZ of $38 million in 2016 and $54 million in 2017 going into the Government's coffers, Mr Robertson said.
"National has treated Housing NZ as a cash cow for years, taking hundreds of millions of dollars of dividends, and clearly plans to keep doing so. At the same time, as the need grows, it is also continuing to sell off state houses.''
It was time for Mr English to tell Mr Joyce to delete his Twitter account, Mr Robertson said.
National had taken more than $664 million in dividends out of Housing NZ since it had been in government. In that time, waiting lists had gone up and nearly 3000 state houses had been sold. If National had wanted to fix up state housing, it should have foregone a dividend years ago, he said.
The two major parties are each calling their housing plans "comprehensive'', with no sense of irony.
Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett announced yesterday the Government's "comprehensive housing plan'' included modular social housing.
Modular housing would increase supply and house more vulnerable New Zealanders.
Most of the homes would be one or two bedrooms and while the supplier had not yet been chosen, the properties would be modern and comfortable.
If density rules permitted, the sites could support between 100 and 140 houses in total.
Officials were in negotiations to finalise lease arrangement for three sites in South Auckland earmarked for future development in the next 10 to 25 years, she said.
Before construction could start, the Auckland Council needed to finalise the unitary plan to enable the Government to build to the desired density.
