Special Housing Areas – Nondemocratic Policy

The Hawea Community and Special Housing Policy have made headlines again in the regions section of the Otago Daily Times. A synopsis of the public meeting on Saturday has been reported by Mark Price. He states – “SHAs are intended to speed up house building and encourage affordable housing. While the council is not required to consult the wider community when considering SHA proposals, Councillors and staff attending Saturday’s meeting said the public would be consulted”.

We view this comment as very positive. The more people who are informed about the position our community is faced within the use of the fast track policy and the loophole it creates to access our rural land, the heavier the obligation on Council to honour their commitment to “full council & community consultation.”
However, it remains imperative for the Hawea community to recognise that; despite being given assurance that full community and council consultation will be used to make a decision, the fact remains that special housing area policy serves to undermine any obligation to act upon the will of the community or council. It gives full power to the Council & Minister of Housing, upon final agreement from Cabinet and then the Governor General.

It is a policy that removes democratic decision-making and is designed to override all other sensible and smart measures including; full council & community consultation, longstanding sensible district planning which includes the immense energy and time contribution from our community into forming the plan, the Resource Management Act, Environment Court and Treaty of Waitangi.

Regulatory Impact Statement – Queenstown Country Club Special Housing Area
Consultation/statement 44

-The underlying premise of the Act is that the need for additional or accelerated housing supply in Queenstown, and the public benefits that arise from that, outweigh the marginal cost of removing or reducing standard community consultation processes under the Resource Management Act. The main cost of establishing SHAs is that it reduces the ability for communities and existing residents to influence the scale and design of what gets built in their neighbourhoods. This trade-off was considered at a high level during the drafting and passage of the Act.

In a contrived contradiction the Special Housing Policy is the very thing that all other sensible & smart measures serve as, to protect from.

We are wary that a sensible, democratic approach will be taken by the Council, Mayor & Deputy Mayor. Simply because they are enforcing a policy that is not sensible or democratic at its core. Anita Van Stone’s comment at the meeting on encouraging applications to Special Housing Areas, “before this policy will end in a year”.

The very fact that the Key National Government passed such an unlawful act is reminiscent of Queen Victoria’s dishonour of the United Chiefs of Aotearoa’s declaration of independence in 1835.

The council has chosen to enact Special Housing Policy under the guise of affordability to drive development & economy in our communities, revealing the realisation that the QLDC supports a nondemocratic process. Policy does not uphold the best interests of the communities and people they serve and assumes consent to having decisions made for us. Special Housing Policy has the ability to power over the common will of the people and the communities.

There are more efficient, more sustainable and more equitable approaches to tackle affordability issues, growth and development. These are not available through traditional channels laid down by government, these can only be created by the smart thinking and solutions based creativity of the communities that are most at risk of exploitation by extra special housing policy.

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