Comment
Labour leader Andrew Little has thrown down the gauntlet on affordable and emergency housing and the party will be hoping the ideas resonate with voters.
The announcement yesterday was seen as the most important.
The next Labour government would build 100,000 new affordable homes to be sold to first home buyers.
Working with the private sector and experts in fields like prefabrication, standalone homes can be build for $500,000 to $600,000 in Auckland, with apartments and town houses for less than $500,000, Mr Little says.
With the average house price in Auckland about to hit a million dollars, this is a big move in the right direction.
Mr Little says the new homes would stabilise prices and give people a fair shot again.
It is remarkable to think a Labour leader can talk about affordable homes being in the range of $500,000 to $600,000.
A 20% deposit is still a large reach for first home buyers and while interest rates are near record lows in New Zealand, any increase in a year or so would put further pressure on those with large mortgages.
Labour would need to ensure the houses were not bought as "affordable'' and quickly flicked on for a profit, as is often the case now in Auckland.
To achieve the aims outlined by Mr Little, a Labour government would set up an affordable housing authority which Labour says would change the face of towns and cities and fix the housing crisis.
Mr Little is firmly on a collision course with the Auckland Council with this policy, including Labour MP Phil Goff, who is standing for mayor in the supercity.
Labour would abolish the Auckland urban growth boundary that has been driving up the price of land.
It would be replaced with a "smarter way'' to manage urban growth, shutting down the land bankers and speculators by cutting off their profits.
Banishing the urban growth boundary would affect house prices in Auckland and not everyone would be happy about seeing their over-priced houses fall in value, despite a former Reserve Bank chairman urging a 40% fall in house values.
The affordable housing authority would partner developers to deliver thousands of high-quality affordable homes.
It would have a target of 50% of new homes having to be affordable.
The authority would look after the government's urban land holdings and would make sure there was enough land for future housing, business, schools, parks and hospitals.
The authority would also lead redevelopment projects in the likes of South Dunedin and the East Frame, in Christchurch.
Also, Labour would free up restrictive urban growth controls, cutting through barriers stopping the building of homes.
Importantly, Mr Little wants the private sector and iwi to be involved in the projects and the authority would help cut through the red tape.
The danger Mr Little and Labour face is the long wait until the election campaign next year.
The housing policy must remain fresh and Labour will need to build on each part of the three main planks as the months go on.
Earlier, it announced extra funding for emergency housing. On Saturday, it announced it would invest hundreds of millions of dollars in building more state houses.
Now, it wants to build 100,000 affordable houses, giving the planned authority $100 million before requiring it to stand on its own feet.
The Government will go through the numbers and balance sheets, trying to ridicule the costings and policies.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has already started the dismissal process. But National is flailing around on housing.
Mr Little needs to stand firm on this policy for it to gain traction and remain a viable start to the election of a Labour-led government.
