Very Special Email from Rt Hon John Key - Prime Minister of New Zealand and Leader of the NZ National Party

Good afternoon Ruslan Andy, 

Today I delivered a major speech in Auckland focused on our plans around social housing.

At the heart of my announcement today is our commitment to providing more social houses to New Zealanders in need. 

We want to ensure we are able to support the most vulnerable New Zealanders when they need it most.

That’s why we will be increasing the overall number of social housing places – where tenants received an income-related rent subsidy from the Government – by 3,000 to 65,000 over the next three years.

We are also encouraging and developing a more diverse ownership of social housing that will be more innovative and responsive to tenants and communities. 

That means more people with high housing needs – who might be, for example, a sole parent, an older person, or someone with mental health issues – can get into social housing, whether it’s run by Housing New Zealand or a community housing provider.

This goes alongside the other initiatives we have underway in housing, and in supporting the most vulnerable New Zealanders when they need it most.

These include HomeStart, which will be up and running from 1 April this year, helping an estimated 90,000 home buyers into their first house over the next five years.

You can read my full speech here, or read about our plans here.

Kind regards,

Rt Hon John Key