WELLINGTON, May 16 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand on Tuesday announced a land and building program that will see tens of thousands of new houses built in its largest city Auckland in the next decade.
Social Housing Minister Amy Adams said the Crown Building Project will replace 8,300 old, rundown houses in Auckland with 34,000 brand new purpose-built houses in 10 years, 24,300 of which will be built by Housing New Zealand through their Auckland Housing Program.
"This is a significant undertaking for the government, for taxpayers, and for our Social Housing reforms. It's the equivalent of three and a half new houses on every street across Auckland," Adams said.
These houses will be provided "for most vulnerable families, for first-home buyers, and for the wider market," she said, adding that more social houses for Aucklanders will be built to helping provide "a pathway into independent, affordable housing."
Auckland's median house price reached a new high in November of 851,944 NZ dollars (587,586 U.S. dollars), a year-on-year rise of 11.4 percent, making homes increasingly unaffordable for ordinary Aucklanders.
The Crown Building Project is "the government making the most out of the available residential land it owns to meet Auckland's social housing needs," Adams said, adding that the 34,000 new houses are a substantial redevelopment and construction program "on a scale not seen since the 1950s."
Housing New Zealand will retain dividends and proceeds from state house transfers, to help fund the building program.
"Our plan to build 34,000 new homes over the next decade has been carefully scoped and designed, is fully funded, and builders are on site getting on with the program already," she said.
