The building industry is scathing of KiwiBuild’s lack of progress.

A big KiwiBuild summit was held in Auckland on Monday but the Housing Minister Phil Twyford was a no-show and his replacement didn’t want to talk about it.

• Twyford and Goff to skip KiwiBuild Summit
• KiwiBuild: Is the Government’s flagship policy over?
• Duncan Garner: Twyford’s no-show at KiwiBuild conference a ‘middle finger’ to the industry

Twyford is under intense pressure as the number of homes built so far has fallen drastically short of what’s been promised.

He stuck his neck out when he said 100,000 homes would be built in a decade, with 1000 of those coming in the first year. But with six days to go only 141 have been completed. And many in the industry don’t believe the targets can be met.

While Twyford was unavailable to defend his policy, many of those in the industry were more than happy to speak out.

Wade Hargreaves, who works in the sector, called KiwiBuild an “unqualified failure” and says it’s actually prevented people from getting into a home.

“It’s not a solution to the housing crisis in New Zealand,” he told Newshub.

And in a poll of those attending, more than 50 percent said they had no confidence the building industry could deliver the number of homes in time.

“From a public perception it’s just confusion,” Home Ownership Pathway founder Andrew LavuLavu told Newshub.

Many at the summit believe the main issue has been Twyford being too ambitious. They say the targets were simply too big and it’s ended up putting him squarely in the crosshairs.

For now though the Prime Minister is standing by her man, saying Twyford has done an “incredible job”.

Ardern says her Government is building more houses than any other since the 1970s.

But the industry has a simple message – “do it once and do it right”.

One it wishes the Government had heeded in the first place.

Newshub.