Auckland consents falling behind

Auckland residential building consents are falling well behind the Government’s own promised 9000 homes for the first year of its Housing Accord, says Labour’s housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“Nick Smith promised Aucklanders 9000 new houses this year, starting last October. He has only delivered 3417 consents in the first six months.

“At this rate the Government will fall well short of its own year one promise, let alone delivering on their promise of 39,000 homes over three years. The March 2014 figures just out show only 500 actual houses consented, which is less than the 511 consented last November, so they are going backwards.

“The Accord is pretty much all the Government has done to address the housing crisis. If it fails, and it is starting to look like it will, then prices will continue to rise and the Kiwi dream of home ownership will become further from the reach of ordinary families.

“The Accord was supposed to work by bringing in new land through Special Housing Areas, but the Government’s own figures are that the SHAs will only deliver 5850 new dwellings and sections during the three years of the Accord. Given that Auckland needs 13,000 new homes each year just to meet the shortfall and then keep up with demand, and migration figures are rising not falling, it suggests the Government’s housing policies are failing and their own numbers prove it.

“Labour has a real plan to solve the housing crisis, building 100,000 affordable homes for first home buyers, fixing monetary policy, and cracking down on speculators through a capital gains tax and restrictions on offshore speculators.”

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