Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Housing Minister Megan Woods are speaking in Auckland at the opening of two new Salvation Army social housing developments at Westgate and Flatbush.
The Westgate complex has 22 homes, while 46 units have been built in Flat Bush, and both have community facilities and chaplaincy support where needed, the Salvation Army said.
"This is still a housing crisis we're in the thick of. We'll keep going until all needs are met," Ardern said.
Woods said it was an exciting development.
"This is part of our partnership with the community housing provider. There's 46 new units - a mix of two and one-bedroom units. This is a real example of how you have the community sector and the government coming together in a partnership. Long term contracting, long term relationships allows the community provider, the Salvation Army in this case, to finance the capital cost of the build."
Woods said this project of warm homes was "exactly the vision of how we'd like to see our public housing pipeline look".
She said the government had a 25-year contract with the provider.
"We're not subcontracting our responsibility for building houses, we're wanting to form long-term, enduring relationships with the sector and not telling them to come back every three or five years to renew those contracts. We want to give that stability to the sector," Woods said.
Backing that statement, Ardern said there would be some cases where the government would also provide upfront funding.
Woods said the government was looking to acquire more new builds, because buying existing houses was "doing nothing to solve the housing crisis".
"We want to add to the housing stock."
Ardern said no one wanted to see people in transitional housing or in houses that did not give stability.
"We have been using sources of housing like ... motel units just to get people housed to make sure they are not in cars, but no one wants them to stay there long term."
She said the housing market had been very unpredictable, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Right at the beginning people told us the housing market would collapse, it's done the exact opposite ... we want to do everything to prepare to make sure we've got people's needs being met but to move them to more permanent housing in the long term."
Ardern said families with children were being prioritised to move from motels to permanent housing.
"We will keep building, we will keep creating those spaces, we'll keep partnering and pulling every lever we have to provide housing for those who currently don't have it."
She said many people were going from private rentals before moving to transitional housing and the government was stepping in.
"We've started a programme to help people sustain their tenancies. So, if they miss a payment, we're there to support them so that they don't lose their home, their community, their schooling for their whānau."
Ardern said many people were going from private rentals before moving to transitional housing and the government was stepping in.
"We've started a programme to help people sustain their tenancies. So, if they miss a payment, we're there to support them so that they don't lose their home, their community, their schooling for their whānau."
Woods said the government wanted private investors and developers to help fix the housing crisis.
"Please still do invest in property and interest deductibility will still be available to you, the bright-line test will stay at five years for you, but we want those to be new builds. We want people adding to the stock of housing.
"I don't want to see mum and dad investors competing with their kids in the suburbs who are looking for a first home."
Woods said tenancy law changes were "more fit for the 21st century" and would allow for tenants to "set up a home in the house that they rent".
They were speaking after the release of a review of transmission of Covid-19 cases at at the Grand Millennium and Grand Mercure managed isolation facilities in Auckland earlier this year.
The report found infection was most likely to have been through via aerosol transmission.
In March, three MIQ workers at the Grand Millennium tested positive for Covid-19, and it was later revealed one of the cases - known as Case B - had not been tested for a number of months.
The report recommended improving barriers to staff testing and vaccination and continuing to improve data management systems.
Ardern said there was not much in the report that was new but it was a good chance to implement changes that were needed.
The review of Covid-19 infections the Grand Mercure found the overall risk of in-facility transmission was low, but also said procedures on transporting returnees for exercise were breached.
The Ministry of Health has revealed it missed 177 people who had travelled from Melbourne as the state of Victoria went into lockdown over a Covid-19 outbreak.
Victoria today recorded two new local coronavirus cases, taking the state's outbreak to 63. Subject to public health advice, regional Victoria is set to ease restrictions after 11:59pm tonight, while metropolitan Melbourne will remain in lockdown for another week.
