Phil Twyford

Housing Spokesperson

17 June 2015

Government urged to create development body

The Government should adopt the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to create an urban development authority to drive large-scale renewal projects in our biggest cities, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says.

“The Kiwi dream of home ownership is at its lowest in 60 years. A majority of New Zealanders are renters now. Bringing down the cost of urban land will make housing more affordable and make home ownership more achievable.

“The cost of the housing crisis is measured in frustrated first home buyers, and families living in garages.

“It is going to take the kind of active hands-on role by government that National has been so reluctant to adopt as the housing crisis has deepened over the last few years.

“The Productivity Commission’s draft report on Using Land for Housing is a useful and timely contribution to the debate on how to fix the housing crisis.

“A mishmash of rules and policies have made land much more expensive than it needs to be.

“The Commission is right to call for the Government to be more directive about Councils’ local plans. Labour’s policy of a National Policy Statement on housing under the RMA will give local authorities clear direction on increasing the supply of land and housing because building more and better housing is a matter of national interest.

“If we don’t build a better range of affordable housing in parts of the city where people want to live, then we are pricing our kids out of ever owning their own homes,” Phil Twyford says.

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