Housing Minister Chris Bishop has told real estate agents that the government wants to “flood the market” with opportunities for housing development.
It has agreed to a range of changes that would free up land for housing, and, the government hopes, make housing more affordable.
My rough summary of proposal:
- Most cities will be required to have zoned enough land for 30 years of housing demand all the time
- These cities won’t be allowed to determine urban/rural boundaries
- Must intensify, especially around major public transport routes. If they decide not to for character reasons, then equivalent capacity must be opened up in another area
- cafes, dairies, etc (mixed use) must be allowed in residential areas
- appartments not allowed to have minimum floor area or requirement for balcony set by council
- councils already intensifying under a previous agreement (MDRS) will keep this, but if they change it then they have to move to using new rules
Let me know if I’ve got something wrong!
One of the conditions is that they have to provide equivalent elsewhere if they to pull that card. I’d guess the devil is in the detail.
I’m just wondering what that elsewhere entails. If they aren’t strict about it I could imagine councils just pointing to land far away from anything and saying ‘see we provided an alternative’.
Yeah for sure. Not much point in intensifying transport corridors if you’re just gonna transfer that intensification zoning to the outskirts.