The latest public housing data for Canterbury shows that 289 households were provided with a place to call home in the last quarter, and more public housing is being brought on board to address increasing demand.
The figures reflect households who were either on the Housing Register or the Transfer Register, which is comprised of those whose existing public housing no longer meets their needs.
"This Government has been clear that the best way to tackle the housing crisis is to increase supply as quickly as we can, and that's exactly what we are doing," Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford says.
"Since coming to office, our Government has built 1,191 new state houses.
"In the last quarter, in Canterbury we brought on an additional 61 public housing places, with 31 of these places brought on by registered Community Housing Providers and 30 delivered by Housing New Zealand.
"In the same time period, we also brought on seven transitional housing places, which will allow us to support around 20 additional families and individuals each year.
"Each new state house and community provided home means one less family living in unacceptable circumstances, such as cars, garages and under bridges.
"While progress is being made on building more homes, we know demand for housing continues to increase. The hidden homeless that we warned about at the beginning of last year are continuing to come forward with the Housing Register increasing in Canterbury by 76 households.
"We need to build more public housing, and we remain committed to increasing supply by 6,400 new places in the next four years, 480 of which are expected to be in Canterbury.
"We are on track to achieve this goal," Phil Twyford said.
