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A new technical report on housing foundation will help lift the pace of Christchurch’s housing recovery, Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith said today.

“The problem of what to do with the tens of thousands of homes with damaged foundations is difficult, expensive and hugely frustrating for homeowners. This technical report is a major step forward in determining what can be fixed, at what cost, and with what method,” Dr Smith, who has a PhD in geotechnical engineering, says.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith has announced a new 'Fasttrack' process for the Tenancy Tribunal to cut the time taken to resolve rent disputes.

"This Fasttrack initiative, which will begin 1 February, will hugely reduce the time it takes to resolve the rent arrears disputes that make up 76 per cent of the 43,000 applications received by the Tenancy Tribunal each year," Dr Smith says.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today welcomed the December building consent figures from Statistics New Zealand that show 21,300 new houses were consented in 2013, up 26 per cent from 2012.

“With the number of consents issued at its the highest level in six years, these
promising figures confirm that the Government’s policies to increase housing supply are delivering results,” Dr Smith says.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says thousands of carers have received extra cash to help meet the costs of looking after children since she announced new payments and grants last month.

“I wanted to ensure carers were aware of the extra funding before Christmas so they could relax a bit, knowing that help was on the way.”

Around 12,000 children are cared for by grandparents, extended family or other carers.

Already, around 2,000 payments of more than $880,000 have been made.

Latest benefit numbers reveal thousands of New Zealanders have gained financial independence by coming off welfare in the past 12 months, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says. 

Figures for the December 2013 quarter released today show over 17,000 fewer people are on benefit compared to December 2012.

“This is a significant decrease and proof that the welfare reforms implemented by this Government are making a huge difference for New Zealanders,” Mrs Bennett said.

There were 321,869 people on benefit in the December 2013 quarter.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is delighted over 62,700 people went off benefit and into work in the first nine months of 2013 alone.

“It’s not easy taking the plunge into work, but we’re seeing an average of over 7,000 people a month going off welfare into work,” Mrs Bennett said.

“People are stepping up and building better futures, and it’s important we recognise just how significant the move off welfare is for them and their families.”

Break-Away holiday programmes are offering thousands of children from high needs communities a fun and busy break over the school holidays.  

Break-Away programmes run during the Christmas and Easter holidays, and are delivered by community organisations with support from MSD.

“Since this Government introduced the Break-Away initiative in 2009, almost 95,000 school children from the Far North to Southland have taken part,” Mrs Bennett said.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today announced that Project Management Company MWH (New Zealand) had been awarded the contract to manage the minor repairs programme for 3600 earthquake damaged Christchurch state houses with less than $40,000 worth of damage.

“The awarding of this contract is an important step towards the goal of having all 5000 earthquake damaged Housing New Zealand homes fixed and another 700 built by the end of 2015,” Dr Smith says.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith and Auckland Mayor Len Brown today announced the second batch of 11 Special Housing Areas (SHA) that will progressively bring to market more than 9,500 homes across Auckland.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today officially opened 32 new two-bedroom Housing New Zealand homes in Johnsonville, Wellington.

“The opening of this new housing complex is great news for the 32 families just prior to Christmas. This project illustrates the Government’s commitment to providing good quality, warm, dry and safe homes for families with high housing needs,” Dr Smith says.

Associate Minister of Housing Tariana Turia today announced the opening of a new infrastructure grant fund for developing Maori land as well as changes to an existing proposal development programme to better support Maori housing initiatives.

“Both programmes are designed to enable the development of social and affordable housing projects on Maori land and to prepare Maori organisations to play a bigger role in providing social and affordable housing for their people,” says Minister Turia.

The Government’s work with councils to improve housing affordability has been expanded beyond Auckland with Christchurch City, Wellington City, Hutt City, Upper Hutt City, Porirua, Kapiti, Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty being added to the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act.

“New Zealand’s housing supply and affordability challenges extend beyond Auckland. The Auckland Housing Accord is proving to be a successful tool and we are keen to explore how we can assist other councils to get more houses built more efficiently,” Dr Smith says.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today welcomed the release of the Land Use Recovery Plan by Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee.

“Christchurch faces a unique set of housing challenges from the damage of tens of thousands of homes in the earthquakes, the demand for temporary accommodation while homes are fixed, and the influx of rebuild workers needing accommodation. These factors have put significant pressure on both Canterbury’s rental and home ownership markets,” Dr Smith says.

The Government has provided an additional $31 million of capital to the Hobsonville Land Company, a subsidiary of Housing New Zealand, to enable faster progress on a 3000 house development at Hobsonville Point in Auckland.

“Hobsonville Point is proving to be a very successful and popular housing development. This Government capital is to enable the company to purchase the remaining 16.5 hectares of land two years ahead of schedule and bring 500 houses to the market earlier,” Dr Smith says.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today welcomed Parliament’s first reading of a bill which narrows the range of infrastructure costs councils can charge housing developers and introduces an independent appeals process.

A group of 20 young people in care will be recognised today at the William Wallace Awards, jointly hosted by Prime Minister John Key and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.

The Awards are an annual event celebrating young people in foster care who’ve excelled across a range of areas, including academically, in music, art, and sport, and as role models in their communities.

“These young people have all overcome extremely difficult starts to life, and have shown huge determination and courage to get to where they are now,” Mrs Bennett said.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today welcomed Parliament’s first reading of a bill which narrows the range of infrastructure costs councils can charge housing developers and introduces an independent appeals process.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith joined with Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel and a consortium of community social housing providers today to officially unveil plans for a new 44 unit mixed social housing development in Hornby.

A bill clarifying and simplifying parts of the law around unit title owners and bodies corporate passed its third reading in Parliament today.

“The Unit Titles Amendment Bill makes a number of amendments to the Act that will benefit prospective buyers, unit owners and bodies corporate. While it affects about 100,000 people today, the growth of apartment living and other higher density housing and mixed housing developments means it is likely to cover half a million people within 50 years,” Dr Smith says.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is welcoming public submissions on the Vulnerable Children Bill to be heard from next week.

“The ten-year Children’s Action Plan and Vulnerable Children legislation is the most important work I have done as Minister and New Zealanders continue to have a vital role in shaping this,” says Mrs Bennett.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today turned the sod to mark the beginning of construction for Housing New Zealand’s new 26 inner city apartments and opened a further six community social housing units in Saint Albans.

“There’s no simple solution to solving Christchurch’s complex housing challenges. It requires we take action on a range of fronts to counter the loss of so many homes to the earthquakes and the increased demand for social housing,” Dr Smith says.

Work opportunities continue to open up for beneficiaries thanks to strong relationships between Work and Income and employers.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett was pleased to help open Countdown Lincoln Road in Henderson today, where 44 new jobs have been created – 14 filled by Work and Income clients.

“Work and Income have been incredibly active in the lead up to the new supermarket opening, establishing contact with Countdown and letting them know beneficiaries were ready and waiting to get hired,” Mrs Bennett said.

Figures released by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett illustrate the benefits of going from welfare to work, factoring in tax credits for families.

“On average around 1,500 people a week, move off welfare into work which brings pride to individuals and families and is financially beneficial.”

An average sole parent with two children under thirteen, living in South Auckland would receive around $642 on benefit, including accommodation supplement and a minimal extra allowance for costs.

Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today welcomed Parliament’s passage of the Government’s Social Housing Reform Bill through its third reading without a party vote being called.

“The fundamental change in this bill is shifting from state housing to social housing. Governments for 75 years have believed that only the state can meet the housing needs of disadvantaged families. These reforms will encourage the growth of a more diverse range of new social housing providers,” Dr Smith says.