Headline: Land supply not the panacea
Freeing up more greenfields land won’t on its own deliver more affordable housing, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.
Tauranga’s Mayor Stuart Crosbie today spoke out in support of state intervention to build affordable housing saying that increasing land supply alone is not the solution.
“Mayor Crosbie presented a damning review of the Government’s Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill at select committee today, arguing that the government’s narrow focus on land supply was misplaced.
“Housing in Tauranga-Western Bay of Plenty is the third most expensive metropolitan centre after Auckland and Christchurch, and that’s not due to a lack of available land.
“Under National’s plan there is no obligation for developers to build affordable homes.
“Today the Mayor detailed Tauranga’s situation. According to Tauranga Council’s modelling, land costs, including holding costs, are just 10-20% of the cost of delivering new sections to market. With an estimated 30 years of greenfields land supply available the Mayor was clear that the supply of land is just one of a number of component parts needed to tackle house price rises.
“Mayor Crosbie also told the committee the Government’s plan had the potential to create slums by bypassing the quality protections in the RMA and council plans.
“While a shortage of land for development is clearly one of the factors affecting the Auckland market, the Tauranga example shows there are other factors driving housing unaffordability in the regions.
“In its rush to be seen to be doing something, the Government is forcing an Auckland-centric model on areas where it doesn’t fit. The Government’s focus on cutting through planning regulations and increasing land supply as if that is a panacea is a half-baked response to the problem,” Phil Twyford said.
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