“Auckland Council’s preliminary response to the Government and National’s housing planning changes confirm that their policy is nothing more than political theatre masquerading as a solution,” says ACT’s Housing spokesperson Brooke van Velden.
“Both National and Labour have failed on housing. Now they’ve teamed up to fail together and have created a toothless policy that ignores the reality of the housing crisis.
“Builders and councils say the real shortage is infrastructure – councils can’t afford it. It doesn't matter how many houses could be theoretically built if there’s no connections. Without more infrastructure, there won't be more houses in total, they'll just be in different places.
“Last year ACT proposed an amendment to the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Bill so infrastructure funding could be added. This request was shut down by both Parties.
“We’ve warned Labour and National and now councils are warning them that the Bill is toothless if its not attached to adequate infrastructure funding.
“Auckland Council are now looking to identify areas in Auckland to exempt from the new rules where water supply, wastewater, stormwater networks and transport infrastructure may not be adequate to cope with more growth and would be expensive to provide. These constraints could be considered “qualifying matters.”
“ACT has proposed local councils receive a payment equivalent to 50 per cent of the GST for every new dwelling constructed in its territory. This provides an incentive for councils to enable building and a means of covering infrastructure costs.
“We want to build more homes so that every New Zealander believes they have a future in this country. Unfortunately, this policy is going to be Kiwibuild 2.0 unless Labour and National start listening.”