New Zealand’s National Government remains under siege for failing to solve Auckland’s housing crisis by promising to boost supply.
Yesterday in Parliament, Labour housing spokesman, Phil Twyford, attacked the Government’s credibility, leading to Minister for Social Housing, Amy Adams, effectively blaming private developers. From Interest.co.nz:
Amy Adams has defended levels of building under the government’s Auckland Housing Plan, saying the onus is with private property owners in the city to lead the way on increasing the supply of affordable housing there.
Responding to questions from Labour housing spokesman Phil Twyford in Parliament Wednesday, Adams, Minister for Housing New Zealand and Social Housing, said the government was playing its part with building announcements regarding the 5% of Auckland land it owned…
Twyford asked why such a small number of affordable units had been proposed compared to Auckland’s needs. He noted Reserve Bank comments that the rate of house building was insufficient to meet population growth or reduce housing shortages…
Twyford put to her that of the 4,500 new ‘affordable homes’ half had been in the pipeline already. He asked how that was a credible plan, “when Auckland has a shortfall of 40,000 homes; last year only 7,000 new homes were completed, according to Auckland Council; and only 5% of those were affordable?”
It is the National Government that has chosen to maintain a mass immigration policy, which drove 35,772 net migrants into Auckland over the past year:
And was the key driver behind the 44,500 increase in Auckland’s population.
So it’s a bit rich to bemoan that private developers are not building enough homes for Auckland when it is the Government’s immigration policy that is causing most of the demand-supply imbalance in the first place, and is projected to continue for decades:
Moreover, if the Government is so concerned about private developers hoarding land, then why not: 1) abolish regulatory growth constraints (such as Auckland’s urban growth boundary); and 2) implement a broad-based land tax to encourage developers to bring homes to market more quickly?
