Housing Affordability: Fletchers Confirm Land Availability Is Biggest Constraint
Press Release By ACT Leader John Banks
Thursday, January 30 2013

New Zealand’s biggest building company, Fletcher Building, yesterday confirmed ACT’s view on housing unaffordability – it’s lack of land that is the biggest driver behind our increasing house prices, ACT Leader John Banks said today.

When questioned on TVNZ’s One News last night, a Fletcher Challenge representative confirmed they could “build significantly more” [houses] but their “biggest constraint is land availability.”

“ACT has said this from the start - no new land means no new houses, and the land that is available is too costly for first home owners,” Mr Banks said.

“Both the 2025 Taskforce, in its 2009 report, and the Productivity Commission report of 2012 reach this conclusion.

“Labour and the Greens both claim they can provide affordable homes, yet their policies fail to address the problem of land supply.

“Rather than making houses more affordable for many, they would rather take money off all New Zealanders to subsidise houses for a few. This will not solve the problem.

“The only credible way to address housing unaffordability is to increase the supply of land. This can only happen if we significantly reform the RMA. It’s the RMA that gives local councils their power to restrict land for residential houses and to drown building projects in resource and building consents, and other red tape.

“Better yet, reforming the RMA will not require the Government to fork out billions of taxpayers’ dollars to build houses for a few. Instead it would increase land supply, decrease land prices and therefore increase the private sectors ability to build more homes for less.

“ACT is committed to RMA reform and we will be pushing National to take bold steps in the RMA reform programme that is currently under consideration by Ministers,” Mr Banks said.

ENDS

To watch the bulletin on TVNZ's One News click here: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/fletcher-building-wades-into-housing-debate-video-5329947

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>