The Government has put out more press releases about its Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme than it has received actual applications, National’s Building and Construction spokesperson Tim van de Molen says.

“After questioning Building and Construction Minister Poto Williams in Parliament today, it became apparent the scheme, which is meant to help unit owner-occupiers in residential earthquake prone buildings with strengthening costs, is failing.

“There have been no applicants. No New Zealanders are being helped by this financial aid. It’s another example of the Government promising big on a housing issue but failing to deliver.

“The problem is the criteria is too strict and many apartment owners aren’t meeting it, which is simply unfair.

“The Government announced that loans of up to $250,000 would be available for eligible Kiwis with $10 million allocated for the loans themselves. Almost the same amount has been allocated for the government costs of administering this scheme.

“This is another in a long-line of expensive projects like KiwiBuild, light rail and progressive home ownership where Labour is spending taxpayer money on poorly designed schemes.

“The Minister needs to reconsider the appropriateness of this scheme.”

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