Labour’s housing policy failures have led to a huge increase in the number of Kiwis living in their cars, National’s Housing Spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“Despite claiming they would fix New Zealand’s housing crisis, the number of people forced to live in cars under Labour has more than quadrupled to 480 in June 2022, from 108 in December 2017.

“While in Opposition in 2017, Jacinda Ardern tweeted that ‘kids living in cars and motels is not a sign of care’.

“Yet under her watch, there are now over 370 more people sleeping in their cars every night and 4100 kids are waking up each morning in motel rooms.

“Simply saying that you ‘care’ is not good enough. If you care about a problem, you act on it. There needs to be a plan, but Labour doesn’t have one and that’s why the problem is now exponentially worse.

“Since Labour came to Government, rents are up $140 a week and 27,000 people are on the social housing waitlist, an increase of more than 21,000. People are being pushed out of the housing market because of Labour’s complete and utter failure to deliver on their housing promises.

“Labour claimed KiwiBuild would solve the housing crisis. Instead, it has been the biggest policy failure in New Zealand history with just 1366 homes built out of the 100,000 promised.

“As Grant Robertson himself said in 2017, New Zealanders will look on in shame at the fact that there are families living in cars. It is indeed a national shame that despite all the talk from Labour, more New Zealanders are living in cars under their watch.

“This Government talks a big game, but nice words won’t get people out of their cars and into a home. Having a plan and delivering on that plan will, but sadly for New Zealanders, Labour can’t deliver anything except worse outcomes.”

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