3. GORDON COPELAND (United Future) Link to this
to the Minister of Housing
Does he agree that there is a mismatch between the supply of and demand for land for new housing in New Zealand?
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Housing) Link to this
In some cases land supply may not have kept up with demand, but the evidence is mixed. It would be foolhardy to suggest that simply freeing up more land will solve our housing affordability problems. Freeing land for speculators and large, expensive housing developments will not solve the affordability question.
Can the Minister understand the despair felt by many of today’s young families about ever owning their own home when they hear stories from their parents of how during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, young families while still in their 20s were able to buy a new home because entire areas such as Wainuiōmata and Newlands in Wellington, and entire suburbs such as Hillsborough in Auckland, were subdivided and a section could be purchased for little more than 1 year’s salary; and was not the original intention of the Resource Management Act to make the process of subdivision easier, not harder?
I can understand those concerns by people wishing to purchase their first home. I could also, of course, remind the member that a lot of vacant land was within the metropolitan urban limit at that time. Our city of Auckland of 1.4 million people sprawls over one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world with one of the lowest densities. To consider opening up more land compounds the question of infrastructure, roads, sewerage, transport, etc.
Lynne PillayWe are doing lots. We have funded research into local housing markets to reveal all the factors in play. We have developed new mixed housing estates, which offer both affordable and social housing—for example, at Weymouth, Papakura, and Hobsonville. We are working with local government to assist it to encourage the development of affordable housing such as the proposal that the Queenstown Lakes District Council is currently consulting on.
Phil HeatleyDoes he stand by his statement that “housing affordability is an issue preoccupying hundreds of thousands of young households around the country.”; if so, is he really going to build hundreds of thousands of houses for them at Hobsonville or elsewhere, run equity schemes for hundreds of thousands of lucky families, or provide hundreds of thousands of State houses for every last one of them as his solution, and is it welfare that these young families are really looking for?
Housing affordability is certainly something that is exercising a lot of people, much of it concern for children and grandchildren. Many of those children and grandchildren, through employment and saving, will, of course, meet their own housing needs. Some people, particularly in high-value markets such as Auckland, will face challenges, and that is why the Government has brought in things such as the Welcome Home Loan scheme, and next year, of course, we will be developing a pilot in shared equity.
Bearing in mind the Prime Minister’s statement last night about housing supply, will the Government be involving Treasury in a comprehensive economic evaluation of the relationship between planning and other restraints on the subdivision of land for new housing, and the cost of land, with the clear goal of ensuring that the dream of homeownership can once again become the norm for today’s young families?
We already have officials working on a variety of streams of work—for example, the shared equity programme, and the Hobsonville development—where we are addressing these questions. I remind the House again that this is a complex issue; every Western country is facing it, particularly in major metropolitan areas.
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I specifically asked whether the Government would involve Treasury, and that was not in any way referred to in the response. I doubt whether the answer really addressed the question.
Madam SPEAKERThe member may not be aware, but every paper that goes to Cabinet is given a close scrutiny by Treasury.
I seek leave to table a document that states that the Minister of Housing acknowledges that hundreds of thousands of young households are struggling with affordability and he is going to build houses for them all.
I seek leave to submit a document from a speech to the Property Institute by the former leader of the National Party, Dr Brash, that states that National will renew its 1990s programme of selling off State houses.