New state houses for Dunedin

Fourteen new state houses will be built in Dunedin and three in Invercargill by June this year, Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford has announced.

They will be among up to 155 new state houses being built in 15 regional centres by the middle of this year.

• Housing squeeze on in Dunedin

Mr Twyford said it was the first step in building more new homes to help those most in need in the regions.

In total, the initiative would see more than 270 bedrooms built for individuals or families in the areas where they are needed most.

"Housing NZ will build these modern, warm and dry homes on its vacant land and on its larger properties.

"They will mostly consist of one or two bedroom homes, with some larger homes.

"These homes will be low maintenance, fully insulated, and have carpets, curtains and double glazing."

He said work would begin on the new houses this month and it was expected that people could start moving in from mid-2018.

"This is the largest building initiative Housing NZ has undertaken outside the main centres in decades.

"If we want to reduce homelessness, we must build more state houses. If more state houses had been built in the past decade, we would not have the levels of homelessness we do today," Mr Twyford said.

The announcement comes as the social housing register, which is managed by the Ministry of Social Development was at 87 as of the end of December.  It is the highest it has been since 2014, which is as far back as the ministry’s records go.

As of the end of December, 218 people were on the Dunedin City Council's community housing waiting list, up from 160 in May.