Crown land supply plan moves forward

The government’s Crown land release plan has stepped up a gear with the announcement that deals have been sealed on more land parcels.

Tuesday, May 24th 2016, 8:00AM

by Miriam Bell

Nearly 750 houses will be built on the three parcels of land as part of the government’s programme to use surplus Crown land to boost the supply of houses in Auckland.

The three sites are 1.85ha in Manukau Station Road which is intended for 600 apartments; 0.47ha in Mount Albert which is suitable for 60 townhouse apartments; and 0.91ha in Waterview which is suitable for 80 new houses.

It is planned that development agreements for all three sites will be in place or signed later this year.

When the Moire Road development which was announced last year, is thrown into the mix, the four sites have the combined capacity for about 940 new properties for Auckland.

Nearly all of the $52.2 million allocated to the programme in Budget 2015 has been used to buy the four sites.

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said the successful conclusions of negotiations on the sites was a significant step forward for the programme.

"I expect the timeframe for delivering these homes to be similar to the successful programme in Christchurch involving three sites and 420 homes.

“That’s about 18 months for the first homes to come on stream. Multi-storey apartment buildings are more complex and likely to take two years to complete.

“The development agreements on each site will set out requirements for the pace of development, the provision of social housing and target house price points.”

Smith said the house build rate in Auckland has now lifted from 10 per working day to over 40 per day.

“But we will need to continue to accelerate that pace to the 50-60 per day required to meet demand.”

The announcement comes as the furor over Auckland’s housing supply and affordability issues reaches boiling point in the lead-up to this week’s Budget.

Expectations that the government will announce some type of housing measures to try and tackle the problem are growing.

Meanwhile, politicians across the spectrum are engaging in the fray.

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne is calling for a National Housing Conference to develop “real” solutions to the country's housing problems.

A lasting solution to the problem will only come when central and local government, the building industry, the banking sector, and the social housing sector work together, he said.

"Treating this as a political football will only take us so far. It is time for a more innovative way of building solutions to this pressing issue.”

Last week, Labour Party housing spokesperson Phil Twyford called for the abolition of Auckland’s urban growth boundary to free up more land for development.

“Restrictive land use rules have stopped the city growing up and out, while driving land and housing costs through the roof,” he said.

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