by Miriam Bell
The Government announced plans to release and develop parcels of unused Crown-owned land for housing development, to help alleviate Auckland’s supply shortage, earlier this year.
The process rapidly became mired in controversy – with local iwi taking legal action to clarify their right of refusal status and Opposition claims the land was not suitable for development.
However, a corner in the road towards development seems to have been turned.
Last month, the Government and local iwi came to an agreement on the right of refusal issue.
And now an “Invitation to Partner” on the initiative has been released on the Government Electronic Tender Service.
Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said the Government is seeking private sector developers with the capacity and expertise to participate in the programme to deliver more houses to Auckland.
“The main focus of the programme is to increase supply at pace, so we are interested in developers that will be capable of delivering a minimum of 100 houses in addition to their existing workload.”
Submitted proposals will be assessed by a group of industry experts.
Developers will then be assigned to panels in line with their capability to undertake low, medium and high density housing projects.
The agreement with Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau means that, if the iwi decides to take up develop any of the sites selected, they can select a developer from the panels to work with.
To date, four Crown land parcels have been publicly identified as in the pipeline to be part of the initiative.
But Smith said the assessment of potential sites for development is continuing at pace.
“Our aim is to have the first development agreement in place as soon as possible this year and the first homes completed by the end of 2016.”
Twenty percent of the houses developed will be made available for Community Housing Providers to purchase.
A further 20% of the houses developed will be priced to be affordable for first home buyers.
Smith said the Government is focused on boosting the supply of new housing to improve affordability, particularly in Auckland.
The Government’s “Invitation to Partner – Housing Development on Vacant and Underutilised Crown Land in Auckland” can be read here.
Developers must submit their proposals by Friday 6 November.
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