Clayton Cosgrove: Affordable housing out of reach

Up until recently, the Kiwi dream for generations of New Zealanders has been to buy their first home.

Today, that dream is well out of the reach of your average Kiwi. First home buyers are being priced off the market.

Statistics show median house prices have increased by 18 per cent since 2008 while wages have remained stagnant for many. Even renting a house has become expensive - if you can find one.

It's those hurdles that have seen 1000 Kiwis every week leaving for Australia in search of a fair go.

One of the main reasons housing is unaffordable is the lack of new entry-level homes. In the 1960s and 1970s, when home ownership was on the rise, 30-35 per cent of the new houses built were entry-level homes. Today that proportion has fallen to just 5 per cent.

While a lot of people see this as just an Auckland issue, it's not. Cantabrians are losing out too.

The Government's earthquake compensation package has left too many people out of pocket. Every week I see folks struggling to replace their homes that were munted in the quakes.

Many of them will be forced into rental accommodation - that's if they owned property in the first place.

Earlier this week I watched TV3's Campbell Live where they interviewed a Christchurch man who was living and sleeping in the back seat of his car because he can't find an affordable house to rent. This guy has a job and isn't wasting his money.

Gerry Brownlee says there is no housing crisis in Canterbury - what a disgrace.

The National Government is doing nothing to address housing affordability. It's inaction is condemning increasing numbers of would-be homeowners to a lifetime of renting.

Labour isn't willing to accept that, and will make the big changes needed to address housing affordability.

So how do we help Kiwis get into homes of their own? We get active and we get involved.

Labour's KiwiBuild programme will help New Zealanders onto the first rung of the property ladder by building 100,000 modern affordable homes over 10 years. We will partner with the private sector, community agencies and local government and get on with the job.

Estimates of the cost of modest entry-level homes suggest they can be built for around $300,000 on average, especially when building is undertaken on a large scale. This can vary between regions and further policy work on the details is still under way.

KiwiBuild homes will be sold as they are built, so over the full course of the programme there will be no cost to the Crown. Once the build is underway the programme becomes self-sustaining within the first term as the sale of one batch of houses finances the development of the next.

The benefits of KiwiBuild will be substantial, and the policy has already received widespread support.

This policy will give first homebuyers the chance to get an affordable home, it will make the rental market more competitive and more affordable, and for those Cantabrians trying to replace their munted homes, the policy will help to stabilise house prices.

Labour won't sit on the sidelines. We are going to tackle this issue head-on and ensure that New Zealand is again a place where Kiwis can realise their dream of home ownership.