Labour outlines plan for more homes

Labour wants to establish a new Affordable Housing Authority to fast-track the building of more affordable homes.

Labour leader Andrew Little made the announcement - the third and final plank in series of housing policy announcements - in Auckland on Sunday.

"The authority will use the best of public and private sector expertise to work with developers to cut through the red tape, with fast-tracked consenting so it can get on with building the houses we need," Mr Little said.

"The houses will be in great communities, with modern design and infrastructure as well as parks, shopping centres and transport links."

The authority will be an independent Crown entity with two key functions - to acquire land for housing, including Crown land, and to partner with the private sector, councils and iwi to create housing developments.

The authority will be the main driving force behind the development of 100,000 affordable homes - 50 per cent of which will be in Auckland - under Labour's KiwiBuild programme.

Mr Little is also mooting tougher rules for property speculators.

Labour's proposing extending the bright line test from two years to five years.

"This will stop speculators making a quick buck from flicking houses and is on top of our ban on overseas speculators from buying existing homes," Mr Little said.

LABOUR'S BIG HOUSING ANNOUNCEMENTS:

MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSES

• Establish a new Affordable Housing Authority - an urban development authority - to fast-track housing developments

• The authority will partner with the private sector, councils and iwi to undertake major development projects

• It will be the main driving force for build 100,000 affordable homes as part of the KiwiBuild programme - 50 per cent of the homes will be in Auckland

CRACK DOWN ON SPECULATORS

• Extend the bright line test from the current two years to five years - targets speculators who buy houses with the aim of making a quick capital gain

• Current exclusions from the bright line test will continue

MAKE HOUSING NZ A SYSTEM SERVICE

• Stop selling off state houses

• Instead of paying a dividend to the government, Housing NZ will use that money to fix up existing state houses and build new ones - similar to a policy earlier announced by the Greens

• Greater focus on the needs of tenants - bring back frontline staff

• Rather than being a corporation, Housing NZ would become a ministry. Policy and housing assessment would be carried out by Housing NZ, rather than MBIE and MSD respectively

MORE EMERGENCY HOUSING

• Extra $60m in funding over four years for emergency housing

• That will provide 1400 new beds - enough to help an extra 5100 people a year

• Help with access to essential wraparound services and support the work of emergency housing providers

• Labour says this new supply of emergency housing will be enough, over time, to support the homeless population into permanent housing.

– With NZ Newswire