The Hon. Phil Twyford, Minister for Housing and Urban Development (HUD), spoke on Building Strong, Affordable and Connected Communities, at the AKLGrid Friday 28 September 2018. His key messages were:
The challenge of affordable homes is at the heart of city progression
The need for integrated transport and community design and planning
The need for better design in neighbourhoods, homes and the public realm.
He had a focus on Kiwibuild and in particular delivering these in places such as Mount Roskill and Mangere for the people that live there now, creating mixed income communities so that workers can be housed in the city and not pushed to its fringes.
The creation of an Urban Development Agency (UDA) is a key approach for the Ministry of HUD and will be initiated in less that 2 months. This will work alongside local councils to speed deliver and provide resources. The Hobsonville Land Company (now HLC) is a model for these UDA's and he expects there to be 12-15 project areas which they will be responsible for
MHUD will officialy start operating on Monday (1st October) with the following focus:
• Ramping up efforts to house the homeless
• Building affordable homes through KiwiBuild
• Modernising and building more public housing
• Reforming the tenancy laws to make life better for renters
• Setting minimum standards to make rentals warm and dry
• Adjusting the tax settings to discourage speculation
• Setting up an Urban Development Authority to lead large scale urban development projects
He also spoke of a commitment to change the planning laws to facilitate speed and reduce costs