COMMENT: Every so often I read back over some of the articles that I’ve written for OneRoof over the past couple of years. In the main, I’m proud of what I’ve written and the consistency with which my various positions have proven to be (mostly) correct – but there’s also a fair dollop of negativity in my writing which, frankly, makes me uncomfortable.
I’m not actually negative by nature. I prefer to see the potential in people and situations and am generally of the view that, with goodwill between people of good intentions, most problems can be resolved. So it was with cautious optimism that I greeted the news that Labour and National had come to an agreement on housing last week.
As it turns out, the accord, which was announced with much fanfare by Housing Minister Megan Woods and National Leader Judith Collins, didn’t seek to introduce anything new but it does provide policy certainty to developers and urban planners. It does this by bringing forward two key housing initiatives which wouldn’t otherwise have been fully operative for several years.
The first of these, and the part of the announcement that was most focused on, was the decision to change the consenting rules under which councils operate so that it will now be possible to build up to three dwellings, of up to three storeys, on most sites without the need for resource consent. This is quite a big deal and is designed to turn the tables on those who would seek to stymie development because of the impact it might have on their neighbourhood.
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Colloquially known as NIMBYs (an acronym for “not in my backyard”) these people are demonised by advocates of intensification and characterised, probably a little unfairly, as obstacles to development and progress. In reality, NIMBYs play an important social role in that they force us to consider environmental, cultural and heritage impacts (albeit, usually, from a position of self-interest) and there is a risk that in bypassing them these changes may create new, and unintended, consequences.
However, going forward that will be a moot point and under the new rules, those objecting to a development will have to prove their argument that an apartment (for example) shouldn’t be built, rather than a developer having to prove that it should.
Ashley Church: “NIMBYs play an important social role.” Photo / Ted Baghurst
The new rules, which kick in in August of next year, will apply to Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch and will still impose some conditions on developers, although these will be far less onerous than required by the current rules in these cities. Councils will be able to make these rules even more permissive, but they won’t be able to make them less permissive. In theory, this will lead to more townhouses and big apartment blocks over the next few years.
The second announcement was an agreement to bring forward something called the National Policy Statement on Urban Development which was also already in the pipeline and which does a range of things including removing minimum carpark requirements and doing away with height restrictions on multi-storey developments in our bigger cities. This has been brought forward from 2024 to 2023 and is a topic for more comprehensive analysis another day.
So the question is – are these measures a positive step forward?
The answer is yes, and no.
On the one hand, anything which minimises bureaucracy and gives people the freedom to develop their private property should be celebrated and encouraged, particularly where those measures also expand the range of residential options available to Kiwis.
However, these changes are so permissive and so radically different to what we had before that I fear we may come to regret the loss of character and destruction of heritage which will inevitably follow in their wake and that we may wake up in ten years’ time in soulless cities, wondering how on earth we allowed it to happen.
But most worrying of all are the statements by National, Labour and some commentators that these measures will bring down house prices. I started this article lamenting the extent to which some of my columns come across as negative – and sadly, this one has to end on the same note. Suggesting that the changes announced last week will somehow magically make houses cheaper is nonsense. The changes, while not without their benefits, will do absolutely nothing to impact house prices which will continue to follow their cyclic march upward for at least another couple of decades.
Those suggesting otherwise are either naïve, dishonest or both.
- Ashley Church is a property commentator for OneRoof.co.nz. Email him at [email protected]
