Press Release – Andrew Little
Wellington mayoral candidate Andrew Little has today announced his housing policy, with commitments to accelerate housing development and make our city a place renters and working families can afford to live.
Andrew Little says affordable housing and new development are crucial to making Wellington an affordable, vibrant city where people want to live and businesses thrive.
“For far too many people, Wellington simply isn’t an affordable place to live. Rents are too high and many working people can’t even dream of owning their own home. At the sharp end we see a growing homelessness crisis on our streets.
“Lack of affordable housing also makes it hard for businesses to attract and retain staff, which acts as a handbrake on our city’s economy.
“To turn this around, Wellington needs more homes and a culture of ‘yes’ in the Council that backs development, along with investment in social housing and office conversions.”
Key policy initiatives include:
Speeding up consents by:
o Giving the Chief Executive new KPIs to bring down times to process building and resource consents
o Adopting a project partner approach for complex consent applications
o Reviewing additional requirements given to developments within the District Plan with the aim of reducing unnecessary red tape.
Setting up an Urban Development Office (UDO) similar to Eke Panuku to build great communities with more homes alongside transport upgrades, with access to better public spaces and community facilities.
Encouraging more housing by leveraging Council landholdings in suburban centres.
Continuing the Te Kāinga programme, which targets 1500 conversions of former office buildings into affordable rentals in the CBD by 2033.
Protecting Wellington’s social housing stock by delivering HUP2 upgrades and advocating for expansion of IRRS funding.
“These policies build on the pro-housing changes made to the District Plan during this term. They are practical and are based on what has worked in Wellington and in other cities. With a culture of ‘yes’ to housing development we can build more homes and make our city more affordable.”
Andrew Little also addressed suggestions the Council could save money by handing the city’s social housing over to central government.
“I don’t accept it’s credible to promise selling or handing off our social housing stock to the Government when there is no indication this is anywhere near viable. Our housing stock is a valuable asset for the city and the priority must be to complete the upgrades and work with other government policies to get the best for the city and those in need.”
Andrew Little’s full policy can be found at:
Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
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