National is calling on the Government to introduce urgent temporary legislation to make housing easier to build, and has offered to support the law change through Parliament.

At her State of the Nation speech in Auckland today, Leader of the Opposition Judith Collins said the time had come for an extraordinary solution to an unfolding emergency.

“It is too hard to build houses in New Zealand. We need to make it drastically easier. With rents and house prices spiralling out of control, Kiwis can no longer afford to wait.”

The law change would give Government the power to rezone council land, making room for 30 years’ worth of growth in housing supply, both through intensification and greenfield development.

The appeals process would be suspended so district plans could be completed as quickly as possible. Requirements for infrastructure to be built prior to zoning would also be suspended.

It would be a nationwide equivalent of the emergency powers put in place to get houses built in Christchurch following its earthquakes, which enabled the multiple between median incomes and house prices to remain constant there between 2014 and 2020.

Ms Collins has today written to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, suggesting that a special Select Committee be established immediately to develop the emergency legislation, with the committee’s recommendations available for consideration by the end of March.

With house prices having jumped 41 per cent since Ms Ardern became Prime Minister and the waiting list for public housing almost quadrupling to 22,409 households, building public houses alone will not be enough to make a meaningful difference, Ms Collins says.

“New Zealanders have had enough. It’s time for the two major political parties to work together to fix this problem.”

National’s housing spokesperson Nicola Willis says that while the dream of home ownership has been disappearing for many Kiwis, rents have also ramped up by an average of $100 a week in just three years.

“This means people are struggling to keep up with the other necessities of life – food, power and doctors’ visits.

“National wants more for New Zealanders. We don’t want a future where the only answer to being able to afford a place to live is to get on a Government housing waiting list.”

A copy of the Leader of the Opposition’s letter to the Prime Minister is attached

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