Govt pumps $1.4b into Auckland for upgrade
Housing Minister Megan Woods has announced funding of $1.4 billion, in Auckland, to allow the construction of about 16,000 houses.
The money won’t be used to build houses. It’s allocated towards projects across Auckland to build infrastructure such as pipes, and to prepare land for construction.
Woods said the infrastructure developments would also facilitate up to 11,000 new builds on private land adjacent to the Crown land.
The development would mostly be on brownfield land across the city, she said, which was currently owned by the Crown.
When the land, 181.8 hectares in total, is ready for construction it will see 16,000 new homes built. A third would be affordable houses for sale, another third would be sold at market rate, and the rest would be state housing, Woods said.
These projects would see about 4000 state houses demolished, she said, with the land cleared to make way for new houses. When it was done, she said, there would be 6000 state homes built.
The funding comes from the Government’s $3.8b Housing Acceleration Fund, which is focused on paying for infrastructure to allow greater residential developments. The funding announced
yesterday would pay for infrastructure and land decontamination in the suburbs of Mt Roskill, Ma¯ ngere, Ta¯ maki, Oranga and Northcote. On average, the $1.4b spend would mean the Government was paying $87,500 per house for the 16,000 builds. Woods said it was more expensive to develop brownfield land rather than start on fresh greenfield developments, but it would pay off, with residents having better access to transport and facilities. ‘‘We will not have to put in new infrastructure like schools.
‘‘There will also be up to another 11,000 houses owned on privately owned adjacent land. That takes it to 27,000 houses.’’
Across the 27,000 houses, the average Government spend would then be $51,851 – which Woods said was ‘‘value for money for a brownfields development’’.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said the funding was desperately needed to increase housing density in older suburbs such as Mt Roskill and Ma¯ ngere. ‘‘What we see is where one house stood, we now have three houses. As our population grows, it makes sense to renew and intensify housing in areas close to good transport infrastructure, jobs, education opportunities, shops and amenities.’’