House building rate 2017-2023 compared to 2008 - 2017
Harris Leigh made this Official Information request to Megan Woods
The request was refused by Megan Woods.
From: Harris Leigh
Dear Minister of Housing;
According to Stats NZ at 31 December 2008 the total household estimate for New Zealand was 1,598,200. At 30 June 2017 the total household estimate for New Zealand was 1,724,200 representing an increase of 126,000 households in the time the former National Government was in office.
As at 30 June 2023 Stats NZ estimates there are 1,976,600. This is an increase of 252,400 households since your Government came to office.
Given the dramatic increase in house building facilitated by your Government compared to the previous Government, under the OIA I seek copies all statements, comments, interventions or the like made by the Minister, HUD or KO highlighting this is fact.
Yours faithfully,
Harris Leigh
From: Megan Woods (MIN)
Megan Woods
Kia ora,
On behalf of Hon Dr Megan Woods, thank you for your email.
While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, and all
messages are carefully read and considered, it is not always possible to
personally reply to all emails. As such, the following guidelines apply:
o Invitations and meeting requests will be processed as soon as possible
and a staff member will be in contact with you in due course.
o Requests for official information will be managed in accordance with
the provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may include
transfer to a more relevant Minister or agency.
o If your email falls outside of the Minister’s portfolio
responsibilities, expresses a personal view, or is copied to multiple
Members of Parliament, your correspondence will be noted and/or
transferred to another office.
If you are a resident in the Wigram electorate, please
email [1][email address] and the electorate office team
will get back to when they are able.
Thank you for the taking the time to write.
Ngâ mihi,
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy &
Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate Minister of
Finance | MP for Wigram
Private Bag 18041 |Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand
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From: Megan Woods (MIN)
Megan Woods
OIA23-141
Dear Harris,
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act request dated the 3rd of October 2023. You have requested the following information:
"According to Stats NZ at 31 December 2008 the total household estimate for New Zealand was 1,598,200. At 30 June 2017 the total household estimate for New Zealand was 1,724,200 representing an increase of 126,000 households in the time the former National Government was in office.
As at 30 June 2023 Stats NZ estimates there are 1,976,600. This is an increase of 252,400 households since your Government came to office.
Given the dramatic increase in house building facilitated by your Government compared to the previous Government, under the OIA I seek copies all statements, comments, interventions or the like made by the Minister, HUD or KO highlighting this is fact."
We received your request on 04/10/2023. We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 02/11/2023, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.
Kind regards,
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy & Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate Minister of Finance
Phone: 04 817 8705 | Email: [Megan Woods request email]
Private Bag 18041 |Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand
show quoted sections
From: Housing Portfolio
Dear Harris,
I refer to your official information request dated 3 October 2023.
You requested copies of all statements, comments, interventions or the
like made by the Minister, HUD or KO highlighting the house building rate
2017 - 2023 compared to 2008 - 2017. Your request is likely to be refused
under section 18(f) of the Act as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research as the current framing
of the request is too broad. A refinement of your request is necessary to
enable us to provide you with the information you are seeking.
It may help with your refinement to know that all the public statements
that the Minister has made in relation to the Housing portfolio are
available on the Beehive website
at: [1]www.beehive.govt.nz/portfolio/labour-2020-2023/housing. You can
also find remarks made in the House of Representatives on the Parliament
website: [2]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/. Responses to
Written Parliamentary Questions are also available on the Parliament
website
at: [3]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/written-questions/
which contain statements that the Minister has made regarding the increase
in housing under the current Government.
Please advise at your earliest if you wish to refine your request. Please
note, any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to be a
new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe
for response—see section 15(1AA) of the Official Information Act 1982.
Regards,
Geraldine
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy
and Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate
Minister of Finance | Member for Wigram
Website: [4]http://www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
show quoted sections
From: Harris Leigh
Kia ora Geraldine
The reason I have put in an OIA request is a careful analysis of the sites you list has failed to reveal any comments by the Minister highlighting the fact that during the tenure of the current Government 252,400 additional houses have been added to the housing stock compared to only 126,000 households in the time the former National Government was in office, a time period 150% longer. The rate of house building generally across all sectors under this government is higher than under any recent government. It is important that the public are aware of this. For example, on Morning Report recently the Leader of the Opposition said houses were not being built fast enough "under Labour". While this may be a matter of opinion the facts show that houses are being built faster under the current Government than under the previous National-led Government. However, there appear to be no public statements from the Minister explaining this.
Your statement that: " Your request is likely to be refused under section 18(f) of the Act as the information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research as the current framing
of the request is too broad. " is likely contrary to s18(f) of the Act. If there have been zero statements that fall with the scope of the request, as appears to be the case, you cannot use "substantial collation" as grounds to refuse because there is simply nothing to collate. It appears the grounds of refusal you are most likely to rely on are 18(g) the information simply does not exist.
Nga mihi,
Harris Leigh
From: Housing Portfolio
Dear Harris,
I write in regard to your Official Information Act request received on 4
October 2023. You requested the following information of the Minister of
Housing:
“According to Stats NZ at 31 December 2008 the total household estimate
for New Zealand was 1,598,200. At 30 June 2017 the total household
estimate for New Zealand was 1,724,200 representing an increase of 126,000
households in the time the former National Government was in office.
As at 30 June 2023 Stats NZ estimates there are 1,976,600. This is an
increase of 252,400 households since your Government came to office.
Given the dramatic increase in house building facilitated by your
Government compared to the previous Government, under the OIA I seek
copies all statements, comments, interventions or the like made by the
Minister, HUD or KO highlighting this is fact."
I am writing to notify you that we are extending the timeframe for our
response to your request under section 15A(1)(b) of the Act, as
consultations necessary to make a decision on the request are such that a
proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original timeframe.
We will now respond to your request on, if not before, 6 November 2023
which is an extension of two (2) working days.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of our decision by
the Ombudsman, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. The relevant
details can be found at: [1]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Regards,
Geraldine
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy
and Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate
Minister of Finance | Member for Wigram
Website: [2]http://www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
From: Housing Portfolio
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2023 12:10 PM
To: '[FOI #24320 email]'
<[FOI #24320 email]>
Subject: FW: OIA23-141 Official Information request - House building rate
2017-2023 compared to 2008 - 2017
Dear Harris,
I refer to your official information request dated 3 October 2023.
You requested copies of all statements, comments, interventions or the
like made by the Minister, HUD or KO highlighting the house building rate
2017 - 2023 compared to 2008 - 2017. Your request is likely to be refused
under section 18(f) of the Act as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research as the current framing
of the request is too broad. A refinement of your request is necessary to
enable us to provide you with the information you are seeking.
It may help with your refinement to know that all the public statements
that the Minister has made in relation to the Housing portfolio are
available on the Beehive website
at: [3]www.beehive.govt.nz/portfolio/labour-2020-2023/housing. You can
also find remarks made in the House of Representatives on the Parliament
website: [4]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/. Responses to
Written Parliamentary Questions are also available on the Parliament
website
at: [5]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/written-questions/
which contain statements that the Minister has made regarding the increase
in housing under the current Government.
Please advise at your earliest if you wish to refine your request. Please
note, any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to be a
new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe
for response—see section 15(1AA) of the Official Information Act 1982.
Regards,
Geraldine
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy
and Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate
Minister of Finance | Member for Wigram
Website: [6]http://www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
show quoted sections
From: Housing Portfolio
Dear Harris,
Please see attached a letter in response to your OIA request, below, of 3
October. In the request for refinement of your request, the date for
return of this information was re-set to today, Friday 10 November.
There are some links in this document, which for ease of use for you, I
have included here:
[1]www.hud.govt.nz/stats-and-insights/the-government-housing-dashboard/housing-dashboard-at-a-glance/
[2]www.beehive.govt.nz/portfolio/labour-2020-2023/housing
[3]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/
[4]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/written-questions/
Thanks and regards,
Geraldine
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy
and Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate
Minister of Finance | Member for Wigram
Website: [5]http://www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
From: Housing Portfolio
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2023 12:10 PM
To: '[FOI #24320 email]'
<[FOI #24320 email]>
Subject: FW: OIA23-141 Official Information request - House building rate
2017-2023 compared to 2008 - 2017
Dear Harris,
I refer to your official information request dated 3 October 2023.
You requested copies of all statements, comments, interventions or the
like made by the Minister, HUD or KO highlighting the house building rate
2017 - 2023 compared to 2008 - 2017. Your request is likely to be refused
under section 18(f) of the Act as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research as the current framing
of the request is too broad. A refinement of your request is necessary to
enable us to provide you with the information you are seeking.
It may help with your refinement to know that all the public statements
that the Minister has made in relation to the Housing portfolio are
available on the Beehive website
at: [6]www.beehive.govt.nz/portfolio/labour-2020-2023/housing. You can
also find remarks made in the House of Representatives on the Parliament
website: [7]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/. Responses to
Written Parliamentary Questions are also available on the Parliament
website
at: [8]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/written-questions/
which contain statements that the Minister has made regarding the increase
in housing under the current Government.
Please advise at your earliest if you wish to refine your request. Please
note, any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to be a
new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe
for response—see section 15(1AA) of the Official Information Act 1982.
Regards,
Geraldine
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy
and Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate
Minister of Finance | Member for Wigram
Website: [9]http://www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
show quoted sections
From: Housing Portfolio
image001.jpg
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Final Response OIA23 141 Harris Leigh update.pdf
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Dear Harris,
My sincere apologies, there is one updated paragraph at the top of page 5
which should have been included in our response. I have updated our
response (attached), and for clarity provide the paragraph for you here:
o establishing the Plasterboard Taskforce in response to supply issues
of this key house building material. This has now become the Critical
Materials Taskforce, consisting of industry experts, which trouble
shoots building materials shortages.
Regards,
Geraldine
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy
and Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate
Minister of Finance | Member for Wigram
Website: [1]http://www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
From: Housing Portfolio
Sent: Friday, 10 November 2023 4:56 PM
To: [FOI #24320 email]
Cc: Megan Woods (MIN) <[email address]>
Subject: RE: OIA23-141 Official Information request - House building rate
2017-2023 compared to 2008 - 2017
Dear Harris,
Please see attached a letter in response to your OIA request, below, of 3
October. In the request for refinement of your request, the date for
return of this information was re-set to today, Friday 10 November.
There are some links in this document, which for ease of use for you, I
have included here:
[2]www.hud.govt.nz/stats-and-insights/the-government-housing-dashboard/housing-dashboard-at-a-glance/
[3]www.beehive.govt.nz/portfolio/labour-2020-2023/housing
[4]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/
[5]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/written-questions/
Thanks and regards,
Geraldine
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy
and Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate
Minister of Finance | Member for Wigram
Website: [6]http://www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
From: Housing Portfolio
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2023 12:10 PM
To: '[FOI #24320 email]'
<[7][FOI #24320 email]>
Subject: FW: OIA23-141 Official Information request - House building rate
2017-2023 compared to 2008 - 2017
Dear Harris,
I refer to your official information request dated 3 October 2023.
You requested copies of all statements, comments, interventions or the
like made by the Minister, HUD or KO highlighting the house building rate
2017 - 2023 compared to 2008 - 2017. Your request is likely to be refused
under section 18(f) of the Act as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research as the current framing
of the request is too broad. A refinement of your request is necessary to
enable us to provide you with the information you are seeking.
It may help with your refinement to know that all the public statements
that the Minister has made in relation to the Housing portfolio are
available on the Beehive website
at: [8]www.beehive.govt.nz/portfolio/labour-2020-2023/housing. You can
also find remarks made in the House of Representatives on the Parliament
website: [9]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/. Responses to
Written Parliamentary Questions are also available on the Parliament
website
at: [10]www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/written-questions/
which contain statements that the Minister has made regarding the increase
in housing under the current Government.
Please advise at your earliest if you wish to refine your request. Please
note, any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to be a
new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe
for response—see section 15(1AA) of the Official Information Act 1982.
Regards,
Geraldine
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Housing | Minister for Infrastructure | Minister of Energy
and Resources | Minister for Building and Construction | Associate
Minister of Finance | Member for Wigram
Website: [11]http://www.Beehive,govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
show quoted sections
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