 As Minister of Housing he oversaw a huge increase in building of state houses to fulfill Labour's election promise to increase rental supply and restore the "Kiwi dream" of home ownership.He overcame formidable hurdles such as lack of funding, a depleted construction industry and uncooperative banking industry.He recounted at the time that one of the biggest hurdles in house construction was the manufacturing of toilet pans and that to keep construction going he had to authorize shipments from Australia and when they arrived half were broken.