Mayor Phil Goff has welcomed the $282 million boost to housing infrastructure in Auckland announced by the government today.

“The $282 million is the first tranche of Auckland’s share of the $3.8 billion Housing Acceleration Fund foreshadowed by the government earlier this year.

“The money is earmarked to provide in particular, investment in water services for the Auckland Housing Programme, which will enable regeneration of older state housing areas in Auckland,” he says.

The programme was agreed between the government and Auckland Council and focuses on replacing old and damp housing on large sections with modern, warm and intensive housing in areas like Mt Roskill, Mangere, Northcote, Tāmaki and Oranga.

“The programme is a priority because it focuses on social and affordable housing and is consistent with redeveloping Auckland in a quality, compact urban form.

“Auckland Council is currently investing at record levels in the city’s infrastructure. Around $2.8 billion is being expended on capital projects this year, with $31.8 billion set aside for this purpose in our 10-year Budget.

“Despite this being a substantial sum, we are struggling to keep pace with record levels of population growth pre-covid, a backlog of past underinvestment in our infrastructure, and a peak in investment costs of the City Rail Link at the present time.

“The government, which raises 93 per cent of all public revenue, has made a welcome contribution to our need for infrastructure to accommodate population growth, with more to come.

“We are currently consenting a record of around 20,000 houses a year. We have zoned land to easily meet this need, but the critical obstacle is investment in infrastructure to allow the growth in housing to happen.

“We welcome the government’s partnership with Auckland Council to help provide the investment that we need,” Mayor Goff said.

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