A Kiwibuild victim

One News reports:

First home buyers caught up in a repeatedly delayed development in Wellington say they wish they’d never even heard of KiwiBuild and the Government is advising them to try to get their money back from the developer.

The poor buyers were promised apartments by July 2020. Then told December 2020. Then October 2021 and now it is June 2022.

One KiwiBuild buyer, who wished to remain anonymous, told 1 NEWS he was delighted when he first won a ballot for a KiwiBuild home in the complex.

“I was thrilled to be honest, I had almost given up on the idea of owning my own home. This seemed like a really good way to get started, to get on the ladder.”

But the repeated delays have left him and his partner now paying rent for two more years in a poor quality rental property – despite having paid their deposit.

They’re now wishing they’d never heard of KiwiBuild.

“I would have to say my wife and I are quite gutted with the way things have gone.”

National’s housing spokesperson Nicola Willis says it’s totally unacceptable for people investing in a government housing programme to be treated this way.

“They put their faith in the KiwiBuild brand, they paid their money and now they’ve been left high and dry.”

Just another chapter in the fiasco that was Labour’s flagship policy.