Support for jobs and a big boost for social housing in this year’s budget are the two most important provisions for Auckland, says Mayor Phil Goff.

“We can celebrate with caution the success we have achieved in saving lives and stopping our hospitals from being overwhelmed by Covid-19. Our focus now, however, has to be on protecting and creating jobs for people and on economic recovery,” the Mayor said.

“Our tourism, hospitality and retail industry in Auckland will continue to feel the effects of closed borders and the lockdown, and unemployment will rise sharply. That makes construction and a more targeted wage subsidy incredibly important.

“The investment in trades training and apprenticeships is an important part of people being able to redeploy to where the jobs are,” he said.

“The 8,000 new public housing build programme will create new jobs and meet a pressing social need in our city and across the country. With a long waiting list for state housing and a housing shortage going back a decade, more social housing is desperately needed.”

In Auckland, well over 400 people experiencing homelessness were housed in temporary accommodation during the lockdown.

“We now need to find permanent solutions to their plight, not simply dump them back on the street,” said Mayor Goff.

The new programme has the potential to see over 2600 new social housing units built to tackle our city’s needs and I welcome that.”

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