Phil
TWYFORD
Housing Spokesperson

26 November 2014 MEDIA STATEMENT

Fourth housing report confirms failure

The Fourth Auckland Housing Accord monitoring report shows the Accord has failed to make a dent in the city's housing crisis, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

"The report says consents for only 354 dwellings were approved in the special housing areas during the first year of the accord, showing it had little impact on Auckland consent rates. As Auckland Council has confirmed in the media this has only resulted in 5 houses actually being built and only 18 expected by the end of the year.

"This is National's centrepiece housing policy. It is a hopeless failure. Nick Smith should admit defeat, and hand in his ministerial warrant.

"Instead he is declaring victory over the housing crisis, for building a little over half the number of houses Auckland says it needs each year just to stand still, after six years in Government.

"The 7,366 dwellings consented in the first year is nearly 5,000 houses short of the nearly 13,000 dwellings a year Labour was consenting, especially with migration running at record levels.

"Nick Smith says the Accord's main aim was to free up land supply but the average number of sections consented has only increased by 32 per month compared to the year before the Accord, and as the report itself notes, ‘many of these sections were consented prior to the Accord and indicate a general upturn in activity’.

"While National's housing accord has failed spectacularly to produce new houses, Auckland house prices continue to soar."

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