Scrapping SHAs hamstrings housing
Local Government New Zealand is disappointed by the Government’s blanket decision to not renew the Special Housing Area (SHA) legislation, saying the policy needed refinement not a red line through it.
SHAs were enabled as a means of bypassing unnecessary red tape in the planning system that has for decades clogged up the market, to deliver affordable housing that New Zealand’s communities desperately need.
LGNZ President Dave Cull. says “One of the perverse outcomes of New Zealand’s housing crisis is that local councils have footed the blame for what is effectively a regulatory system failure due to the design flaw of our planning system.”
He says “We are collaborating with central government on its programme to reform the planning system, but the Urban Development Authorities and a rewrite of the RMA are years away, whereas we need houses now.”