Interim targets for the Government's housing scheme KiwiBuild have been dropped, as Jacinda Ardern and Phil Twyford say the program is being "re-calibrated."
The programme has hit a bump in the road, with the Housing Minister admitting the Government would fall well short of 1000 homes by the end of the first year, instead building just 300.
On Wednesday, Mr Twyford and the Prime Minister addressed media and said although the interim targets are no more, the original goal of 100,000 houses in 10 years remains the same.
"Interim targets haven't been a useful way to demonstrate our delivery program," said Ms Ardern.
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"Yes, we still need to be transparent and we still need to demonstrate to the public what we're doing - but our 100,000 goal hasn't changed."
Mr Twyford said a paper will be delivered to Cabinet in the coming weeks that will "recalibrate" the policy. Ms Ardern says that recalibration will then be shared publicly.
"We're looking at how we can make Kiwibuild a stronger incentive for developers, and how we can make it better for first home buyers," said Mr Twyford.
"The idea is to provide a package of assistance for developers that will be enough of an incentive to get them to commit to serious volumes of homes over a number of years."
He acknowledges the challenge KiwiBuild faces in fixing a failed housing market.
"No Government in the past 40 years has tried to do what we're doing... It's not easy, [but] maybe if it was easy the former government would have tried to do it."
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