Housing NZ ready to go on Government Plan

Housing New Zealand says it expects work to start within the next month on building 69 state houses and renovating 10,000 others. The general manager of assets, Kevin Mara, says the new state houses all have plans ready or almost ready and are on Housing NZ land so they don't need resource consents.

They still need building consents, but he says councils now have so few building applications to process that they are approving new buildings within 20 days.

"A lot of councils are now turning them round faster than that," he said.

"We are confident we can deliver [the 69 new houses] by June 30."

The number of new houses in the Government's stimulus package is tiny - reversing less than 1 per cent of the decline of 7134 new dwelling permits granted in the country last year.

But builders yesterday welcomed the immediate start, and a much bigger investment in upgrading existing state houses and schools.

"It will help retain skills and keep people that are currently in the sector engaged, and depending on where it's spent and the timeframe, it may be able to attract those that have had to leave the sector because of falling consent numbers," said Master Builders Federation chief Warwick Quinn.

To read the full NZ Herald story click here

Posted: 12 Feb 2009

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