Government announces new housing authority to 'cut-through roadblocks' to speed up projects

November 24, 2018

The Housing and Urban Development Authority will bring together three existing agencies.

Phil Twyford has announced that the Housing and Urban Development Authority will be using it's "cut-through powers" to speed up the Government's large-scale urban development projects for quality and affordable homes. 

The Minister for Housing and Urban Development says the new authority will bring together three existing agencies that build homes – Housing New Zealand, its subsidiary HLC, and the KiwiBuild Unit.

Phil Twyford said this is the first big step towards creating the authority, which will have wide-ranging powers to transform suburbs, cutting through the roadblocks to large-scale development.

Housing New Zealand’s role as a public landlord and its housing services and products will become part of the authority.

“The authority will transform the way New Zealanders live, work and play by building communities with a mix of public, affordable, and market housing, as well as the jobs, transport links, open spaces and facilities people need – it will do this at scale and pace so we can build our way out of the national housing crisis.

Twyford says the authority will also lead a range of large and small urban development projects throughout the country in partnership with local government, iwi and the private sector.

"The authority could help with developments that are already underway, including the Mt Roskill and Porirua regenerations."

In terms of larger scale projects, it will have access to a range of statutory powers including: shortened planning and consenting processes, building, changing and funding infrastructure, bringing together parcels of land, and reconfiguring reserves.

“Over the coming months, we will continue to communicate the progress we’re making on our KiwiBuild and state home build programmes and further detail on how the urban development authority will operate.

“There will be no change for Housing NZ tenants. Being a world-class public landlord will be a key priority for the new agency. It will have a strong social focus on the wellbeing of both its current and future tenants.

“We believe public and affordable housing should be at the heart of our developments. This move puts public housing at the heart of our ambitious plan to build master-planned communities,” Phil Twyford said.

National's Housing spokeswoman Judith Collins says Phil Twyford’s announcement of an Urban Development Authority that will issue consents, is an acknowledgment that the planning and Resource Management Act (RMA) rules and applications are not working efficiently nor effectively. 

"We know that planning and consenting for land use is an important issue and right now it takes too long to free up land."

But the RMA is key to this."

Collins says she is working on a wholesale reform of the RMA, and is committed to having a proposal by 2020.

"New Zealand needs a bold solution to a law that has proven to be a planning nightmare."

We want to see decent legislation that will help developers and the development of property at reasonable prices so New Zealanders can afford homes.”

New legislation to establish the Housing and Urban Development Authority will be introduced to Parliament in 2019, with the first projects expected to be up and running in early 2020.

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