More Auckland space wasters uncovered
Look to the heavens and you might find opportunities for the region, write John Anthony and Rob Stock.
Places of worship, ghost houses and an aircraft graveyard are occupying large swaths of valuable Auckland land. As the city grapples with a land supply shortage, areas of potentially wasted space are coming under increased scrutiny.
Just this week the High Court at Auckland ruled in favour of a local board’s plans to turn one of the city’s 39 golf courses into a community asset for everyone to enjoy. But that won’t solve Auckland’s housing crisis.
A year ago, mayor Phil Goff said the city needed about 13,000 new houses each year but was consenting 10,000 and building just 7000.
Last week Sunday Business looked at four land uses that take up large areas but don’t add much in the way of making Auckland a livable city.
This week, four more wasted spaces are put under the microscope.
OUR ROOFTOPS
When the old Telecom headquarters on Hereford St in Auckland was converted into apartments by property developer Tawera Group, an extra five floors were added to the top.
The air above our heads is a place into which Auckland can expand – in some cases, without having to knock down existing buildings.
‘‘We were very fortunate with Hereford that it was built like a brick s...house,’’ says David Mahoney from Tawera Group.
The building had particularly ‘‘good bones’’ because it had to be strong enough to hold an exceedingly heavy revolving restaurant, which was later removed.
Property expert Andrew Evans says building technology will allow more upwards extensions.
‘‘With far more knowledge of building techniques, especially laminated timber, it’s starting to become easier,’’ Evans says.
Laminated timber building materials are lighter and durable enough to add extra structures on top of some existing buildings.
‘‘You can put it on the top of a structure without having to reinforce the structure,’’ he says.
PLACES OF WORSHIP
Though we profess to be a secular society, places of worship are exempt from rates, meaning other ratepayers are subsidising one of Auckland’s largest uses of land.
Recently, Auckland Council did an audit of properties on which it had granted a rates exemption (often a partial one). It identified 963 properties used for religious education, worship and theological colleges.
Debbie Acott, Auckland Council’s head of rates, valuations and data management, says the total land area of the properties on which places of worship are located is just over 208 hectares.
That’s the equivalent of around 208 international-sized rugby pitches which are being subsidised to remain the way they are.
Association of Rationalists and Humanists president Peter Harrison believes secular government should treat all private ‘‘clubs’’ the same, whether their members’ shared activity is worship or tennis.
‘‘They shouldn’t be treated
We have a massive deficit of homes in Auckland. People need roofs over their heads. We shouldn’t have a system that rewards homes being taken out of the supply pool. Leroy Beckett Generation Zero
differently from any other kind of club, be it a golf club or a bowling club,’’ Harrison says.
If there was an argument that a church, or other religious group, should be exempt from rates because they provided a social service, then buildings in which charities providing a social service operated should also be exempt, he says.
In 2006, 55.6 per cent of New
Zealanders said they were religious in the census. In the 2013 census that was down to 48.9 per cent.
The Anglican Church has seen the value in parting with some of its places of worship.
Last year it sold a Pt Chevalier church for $4 million.
Later in the year the Congregational Church of Jesus sold a 1144sqm church in Auckland’s Eden Terrace for $3.5m.
Not all religious groups feel they need a place of their own. Some church groups hire school halls on a Sunday to hold their services. There are also ‘‘home churches’’ where services and fellowship meetings are held in residences.
GHOST HOMES
At last count, 7 per cent of Auckland’s homes sit empty.
The most recently available statistics on housing occupancy, from the 2013 census, showed there were 473,451 occupied homes and 33,360 unoccupied homes in Auckland.
Property Institute of New Zealand chief executive Ashley Church says the figures are somewhat misleading because they include houses which are between sales, where the owners are on holiday and deceased estates.
Provided property owners are paying rates, Church has no concerns about people owning empty homes.
‘‘They’re entitled to do that. Is it a good use of space? Probably not,’’ Church says.
And it seems the general public agrees with that stance. A nonscientific Stuff poll in May, which attracted 82,000 votes, showed 80 per cent believed we should not tax houses that are empty.
Empty homes are not plaguing entire suburbs, Church says.
‘‘I think you will find this is the odd empty home peppered around neighbourhoods.’’
The only way to solve the housing crisis is to build more homes, he says.
‘‘The fact that we don’t have enough homes is not the fault of people who decided to leave their houses empty.’’
The notion that people should be penalised for owning empty homes is ‘‘extremist nonsense’’ in a democratic society, he says.
But other democratic societies have implemented measures to crack down on owners of empty homes.
Vancouver in Canada recently introduced a tax on empty homes expected to bring in C$30m (NZ$32.8m) of revenue in its first year.
New Zealand’s Housing Minister, Phil Twyford, blames the National Government for the proliferation of ghost houses but has stopped short of offering up any measures to discourage the practice.
Leroy Beckett, from youth-led organisation Generation Zero, says empty houses being land-banked are a problem.
‘‘We have a massive deficit of homes in Auckland. People need roofs over their heads,’’ Beckett says.
‘‘We shouldn’t have a system that rewards homes being taken out of the supply pool.’’
Rates and taxes should be focused on encouraging the best use of land and space, he says.
MOVE OVER MOTAT?
Auckland’s old transport museum, Motat, sits on 16ha of prime central Auckland land.
The council-owned site, bordering Western Springs park, is spread across two titles with a combined value of $31m.
Only a small fraction of the site is accessible, with much of the property blocked off from public access.
The Sunday Star-Times asked how much is used for storage but the question went unanswered.
Motat spokeswoman Vanessa Hefer says the entire property is used by the museum and a large proportion of its Meola Rd site is on a closed landfill.
‘‘The museum is not aware of any plans to sell or develop this land for housing,’’ Hefer says.
Motat gets 270,000 visitors and $13.1m in council funding every year. On top of that it charges $45 for a family pass.
Generation Zero’s Beckett says that although it is important to maintain areas of culture and green space, areas such as Motat should be prioritised for housing.
‘‘We need to be looking at everywhere in Auckland at the moment and reassessing whether those spaces are being put to the best use for our people,’’ Beckett says.
‘‘Especially for places like Motat, which are on major transport routes, close to town centres and the central city.’’
The fact that we don’t have enough homes is not the fault of people who decided to leave their houses empty.
Ashley Church Property Institute of New Zealand chief executive