LGNZ welcomes well-rounded housing package

Local Government New Zealand welcomes today’s well-rounded housing announcement by the Government, saying it is a necessary intervention to cool our out of control housing market while longer term and more sustainable policy fixes are put in place.

“Today’s announcement will be welcomed by communities across New Zealand, who have been locked out of the home ownership by property speculators taking advantage of historically low interest rates,” says LGNZ president Stuart Crosby.

“It’s also addresses a broader issue, of a generation of renters who are at risk of being pushed out of their accommodation and into social and emergency housing, by shifts in the market.  There is no community in New Zealand who finds this acceptable.”

“We also welcome the announcement of a $3.8 billion Housing Acceleration Fund.  For councils, infrastructure is key to releasing land for development, but the rates based funding system has never been up to the task in the face of high population growth.”

“This no-strings attached fund has the potential to break that deadlock in the short to medium term, while longer term measures to address housing affordability, such as the resource management reforms, are put in place and bedded in.”

“LGNZ and our members are working proactively with the Government to advance other policy fixes and quick wins in the housing space, recognising that we can’t continue to operate in a siloed local government versus central government fashion as we have in the past,” concluded Mr Crosby.