Mr Joyce said the effort of turning Housing NZ back into a ministry was better spent on building up social housing. Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says Labour's plans to turn Housing New Zealand from a corporation into a ministry would achieve nothing beyond slowing down the house building programme while the changes were made. Mr Little said the new state houses would be built where the need was highest, including a "high proportion" in Auckland. While the National Government was building state houses - it expects to build 2000 in Auckland over the next two years - Mr Little said it was selling more than it built. He said HNZC was now spending $500 million a year on building and buying new houses, heading up to $1 billion.

Source: New Zealand Herald July 09, 2016 05:25 UTC