KiwiBuild can’t ever deliver
KiwiBuild has failed on every measure, says Brigitte Morten, so why would the Government argue otherwise?
On KiwiBuild’s sixth birthday, Housing Minister Megan Woods claimed it was ‘‘alive and well’’. But the scheme is failing to deliver on every measure. So why is the Government so willing to talk up what might be its most spectacular failure?
It may be that Labour is seeing the signals of a softening housing market and thinking in 2023 there is life left in this political debate. From a Government applauded for its communications rather than delivery, this hubris shouldn’t be surprising.
For the last few quarters, median price growth has slowed and in some areas gone backwards, real estate agents report more properties are passing in at auction, and Trade Me says rental property listings are lingering for much longer.
But while this might give the perception that housing is getting easier, it doesn’t change the underlying fundamentals, and the changing market has little to do with the Government’s actions.
The Government’s key policy, reform of the Resource Management Act, is a confused, delayed mess. By this point in the electoral cycle, we were promised an exposure draft of one of the bills to be widely consulted on, and then the introduction of the two pieces of legislation that were meant to be passed by the end of the year.
Instead, there was an exposure draft that made a mockery of the select committee which was required to engage with it, and which had more ‘‘to be determined’’ placeholders in it than actual policy.
Nothing in the draft demonstrated the Government had any understanding of how to make the long-term environment for infrastructure and housing change.
The bills now appear to be going in neverending cycles around the Ministry for the Environment, as it tries to reconcile the supposed intent to make development easier with statements on te ao Mā ori and increased consultation. Now we are told they will be introduced in October.
Ironically, it has been left to the National Party, which also must take responsibility for the mess that is the current RMA, to advocate for those who can’t access housing.
Its housing spokesperson, Chris Bishop, has highlighted just how far behind Kā inga Ora is in building houses. In the last year it built 945 houses but removed 853 from stock; while in the same period 2632 people were added to the state house waiting list.
There must be frustration in the Beehive that, even with the political weight of bipartisan support from National, it cannot stop councils from behaving badly. T he Housing Supply Act is feeling the heat in local communities. Those councils responsible for areas where housing is most desperately needed must change their plans by August to incorporate more medium-density housing.
But many of these councils are being deliberately ignorant of their role in creating this housing mess and doing everything they can to prevent fixing it. Auckland Council tried to play games with special character areas, and Wellington Mayor Andy Foster played verbal gymnastics, claiming that more housing couldn’t be built in one area because that would mean there would not be enough demand along the mystical Let’s Get Wellington Moving routes. These councils fail to realise just how bad it is.
According to international standards, an affordable median house price is three times the median household income. Here, the figure is nine times. And it’s young people born in the last era of affordable housing, the early 2000s, who will suffer the most.
At the 2023 election, we can expect slogans telling us that rents have fallen by x amount, ignoring that, even at that level, thousands remain in emergency housing. Or that a certain number of state houses have been built, despite the waiting list still being way too long.
And while there will be anecdotal evidence that some people have found it easier to get in to a house, for the vast majority this will continue to be out of reach.
It is time the Government admitted that believing it can build houses better than the private or community sector is a failed hypothesis. And for the electorate to stop believing Labour when it says it does.