The Auckland Housing Accord: SHAm or SHAlvation? (part 2)
In the first part of this post, I talked about how the Housing Accord signed by Auckland Council and the government had two clear goals: “increased housing supply and improved housing affordability”. Those two goals are clearly laid out in the first sentence of the Accord.…
5 Comments Development update: May 2017/ tourism boom part 2
In the mighty spirit of ’80s metal songs, this post features two slightly different parts separated by a slash symbol. It’s partly a monthly “development update” post, and partly a sequel to a post from 18 months ago about the tourism boom.…
Is building more homes a sinister plot against the poor?
(Before you start reading, see Betteridge’s law of headlines.)
The other day, someone pointed me towards an article on Truth-out.org with an amazing click-bait title: “YIMBYs: The ‘alt-right’ darlings of the real estate industry“.
For those who are already confused, “YIMBY”, an acronym for “yes-in-my-backyard”, is how some housing advocates describe themselves to indicate that they would like to see more homes built in their cities to make them more affordable for more people.…
Government to finally build more houses, but is it enough?
The government have finally announced they’ll build some more houses in Auckland. They say 34,000 will be built over a decade on government owned land but that number also includes 8,300 old houses that will be demolished and thousands more that were already announced or underway, such as at Hobsonville, Northcote and Tamaki.…
The Auckland Housing Accord: SHAm or SHAlvation? (part 1)
Part one of a two-part post. Part two coming soon!
The Auckland Housing Accord was signed between the Auckland Council and government in October 2013, and ran for three years to the end of September 2016. It allowed for “Special Housing Areas” (SHAs) to be created, with new rules from the notified Unitary Plan, and streamlined consenting processes.…
Unlocking Henderson
On Tuesday the Council’s Planning Committee approved Panuku’s “High Level Project Plan” for Henderson. Unlike Onehunga which falls into Panuku’s Transform category, Henderson sits under the Unlock which means they will act as a facilitator to creating development opportunities. Panuku are building on the the work started by the former WCC and have created a vision for Henderson to become an “Urban Eco Centre, enhancing the mauri of the twin streams of Wai o Panuku and Wai Horotiu”
The project was brought forward in priority after Auckland Transport confirmed they were moving out of the former Waitakere City Council (WCC) building but there are a number of other reasons Henderson makes a good location to focus on.…
Development Update: April 2017
Industrial is important
In more than two years of Development Update posts, I’ve hardly ever mentioned industrial development. It’s hard to show in a map like the RCG Development Tracker, so I don’t cover it there.
But even in a modern economy like Auckland, with a strong services base, industrial properties are important.…
Sunday Reading 12 February 2017
Welcome back to Sunday reading.
From the Devonport Ferry. If your commute has tourists taking selfies on it then I’d say it’s probably pretty good:
Devonport Ferry ©Patrick Reynolds 2017
Here is a clipping from yesterday’s Herald Commercial Property section. It neatly encapsulates the value of sorting out planning restrictions [Unitary Plan] and making high quality Transit investments [City Rail Link], naturally, given the context, through a property value lens:I wouldn’t get too hung up on the salesman’s boosterism in the second paragraph, as the main point is that the only way for tatty low value (in the broadest sense) parts of the city, like the current low rise commercial city fringe, to attract investment and therefore improvement is through value uplift.…
More jobs in the city centre
However you define Auckland’s “city centre”, it’s been adding jobs rapidly in the last couple of years. Based on a narrow definition – roughly, the area bounded by the motorways – the city centre has hit a new milestone of 100,000 jobs, actually reaching almost 102,000 as at February 2016.…
50 Years of waiting for an Auckland Rapid Transit system.
Ian Reynolds 1946 by Brian Brake
My father, Ian Reynolds 1922-2005, was an architect (as was my mother). He was also a what was then called a Town and Country Planner. After returning from working in England after the war he spent the rest of his career as partner in a big multidisciplinary practice in Auckland (missing the city of his youth: Wellington.…
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