Check the article embedded below on POAL from Metro Magazine.
Interesting piece – would like to see what this “The Charter for the Port group that includes business, civic and union leaders, and has our (Metro Magazine’s) strong support” is about. Suppose I will know in due time and course.
In the mean time – The Metro Article
There has been much debate around housing affordability since the Auckland Unleashed Document was released in 2010 and The Draft Auckland Plan last year (which is now in the progress of being finalised by Auckland Council). All sorts of things have been thrown around to address this very critical issue where a the Housing Multiple for Auckland is around 6.4 (severely unaffordable) with the New Zealand median at 5.2 (also severely unaffordable). The 8th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2012 Ratings for Metropolitan Markets provides 54 pages of critical insight to the housing (un)affordability situation. The survey goes into depth of the issues and possible solutions so no need to repeat that here. What I will write on here is my idea on getting housing affordability back on track.
Last year I wrote a submission to the Draft Auckland Plan – in it a comprehensive piece was written on land use in Auckland. More to the point the submission was trying to answer this question come goal:
To accommodate employment and economic activity in supporting a healthy social and physical environment for over two million residents by 2040. In doing so The Plan has to follow the objective of being: Simple, Efficient, Thrifty, and restoring Affordability to residents and businesses while still making Auckland ‘The Most Liveable City.’
So a this is where I went – taken from the Introduction of the Land Use section:
How does Auckland best allocate and utilise its land efficiently and optimally so that the goal of being the “Most Liveable (and affordable) City” can be realised.
Options suggested (but are not limited to) are the (Centralised) Master (Community) Plans where development follows a strict centralised prescription and land users then follow a strict usage covenant, to a Neo Liberalistic deregulated market approach where the Council allows the market to allocate and utilise the land per market forces (as seen in Huston, Texas). In this submission I advocate more a mix model of land allocation and utilisation to accommodate jobs, residents and support systems for Auckland.
By mixed model I mean utilising systems from various urban development and management options and using them for Auckland. This is due to the belief that a single option one size fits all would utterly fail to respond to Auckland’s current and future land use needs. In essence both the (Centralised) Master (Community) Plan and to an extent a more liberal option of land use have their place in Auckland providing some simple guidelines are followed.
So a mixed model approach is what I advocated for. I also set out some very basic urban design guidelines to “guide” the urban development processes without stifling housing type choices by potential home owners. These design principles were:
- Follow and Implement the New Zealand Urban Design Protocol
- Follow these philosophies:
○ Would you and your family live here happily?
○ Would you work here happily?
○ Would you and your family use this recreational space while feeling safe?
○ Would it be something you would allow your next generation to inherit?
○ Not contravene the principles of the Resource Management Act 1991 (i.e. the land allocation/development/utilisation will not create severe adverse effects – or simply put, lower the amenity of the surrounding existing physical and social environment)
So with that in mind I set out a plan that allowed flexibility in land use but has some “restraints” to prevent willy nilly developments that have the potential to hurt the city. It was called the Semi Liberal Planned District and you can read on what it is and how it would potentially work in the embedded excerpt below. The Semi-Liberal Planned District Land Allocation/Development/Utilisation (SLPD_LADU) is designed to work with the 60:40 Brownfield:Greenfield development ratio SOON TO BE ADOPTED BY AUCKLAND COUNCIL in both urban AND rural Auckland. For the full submission click HERE.
However as time has drawn on since I drew up the original submission and gave the presentation to the Auckland Plan Committee (former Auckland Future Vision Committee) I continue to learn more about Auckland’s housing (un)affordability situation and the comprehensive package to address the issue – mainly reforms to the Local Government Acts 2002 and 2009 and the Resource Management Act 1991. However the Semi Liberal Planned District is a start and will be used in submissions in the Draft Long Term Plan and the upcoming reforms to the Local Government Act (they better be meaningful too) as part of a comprehensive package to restore housing affordability and effectively one’s property rights.
So onwards with fighting to good fight in restoring housing affordability. Questions and comments can be asked here in the dedicated feedback box below.
Oh and if I were to run for an “office” position – the SLPD-LADU would be pitch I would run with.
HOUSING AFFORDABILITY: ST. LOUIS’ COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Another great piece from Wendell Cox about housing affordability – this time in St Louis.
Auckland has a Housing Affordability Multiple of over 6.0 (extremely unaffordable) while St Louis is around the 2.6 mark (affordable as 3.0 is the threshold (a house should not cost more than three times the combined income of those living in the house)).
Maybe Professor Cox should do a comprehensive study on Auckland and Christchurch on their housing affordability with solutions put forward to the respective Councils. Whether Council follows through is another matter entirely.
But we can try 
After some discussion, the holiday, more discussion and a nice think I am altering what will be presented at View of Auckland.
At the beginning I started VOAKL to look at planning issues in Auckland as The Draft Auckland Plan began calling for submissions. Post the Rugby World Cup VOAKL began running commentary on transport issues including periodically an overstep to the operational side (up until last month), with this year running commentary on politics in Auckland as I began questioning Auckland Council decisions on some issues like Port of Auckland. Well I have had that think after some down time and talks and decided to refocus VOAKL back to her roots.
VOAKL will continue to comment, debate and offer alternatives to planning issues in Auckland. Planning issues such as land use both urban and rural in Auckland, transport planning (that is building new infrastructure like the Eastern Highway) or repositioning current infrastructure (such as a railway station) but not transport operations, and the politics around our planning that stems from The Resource Manage Act 1991, The Local Government Act 2002, and Local Government Act (Auckland Governance) 2009. From time to time, central government politics will come into play if it is deemed of high influence to an Auckland issue such as the City Rail Link.
Remember all I post here is of my opinion and nothing else. Although research is carried out and scouring the public domain for pieces of information to help assist what I am saying when required. I do not make informed statements – that is for the proper people and institutions to do. Also to take it from Whale Oil:
A blog (a portmanteau of the term web log)[1] is a personal journal published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete entries (“posts”) typically displayed in reverse chronological order so the most recent post appears first. Blogs are usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often are themed on a single subject.
So stick around folks, got heaps to write on and not enough time to do it – but one thing is for sure: I love my home – Auckland despite her shortcomings, and I took up this drive to do my bit to make Auckland a better place.
Right I have just confirmed that I will be at the Auckland Future Vision Committee Hearing Panel on March 12 at 3:10pm. There I will be giving a short sharp presentation on my views, concerns and alternatives to City Centre Master Plan. In particular with only 10 minutes – well five if I want some questions thrown in, I will look at pages 164-177 of the City Centre Master Plan that deals with the Waterfront. I am choosing the Waterfront as has two places I have done work on earlier and have strong places in my heart. Those two places being Wynyard Quarter and Port of Auckland.
So better brush up and get some stuff assembled for my second hearing as the continuation the battle to:
To accommodate employment and economic activity in supporting a healthy social and physical environment for over two million residents by 2040. In doing so The Plan has to follow the objective of being: Simple, Efficient, Thrifty, and restoring Affordability to residents and businesses while still making Auckland ‘The Most Liveable City.’
