A housing expert is backing Phil Twyford's warning to "land bankers" that the Government could seize their space if they don't give it to housing developments.
Strategist Leonie Freeman told The AM Show there's a difference between playing a "long-term game" with land, and "sitting on it doing nothing".
"I think that's a good thing that we should look at, because it's not right when we've got a housing crisis in the city where we've got large tracks of good-quality developable land that is just sitting doing nothing where the people who own it have no intent."
On Monday Mr Twyford, the new Housing Minister, warned if "land bankers holding out a massive new development that's going to deliver thousands of new homes" won't hand land over, the Government could seize it.
He says the law does not need to be changed to allow the agency to have that power - it already exists under the Public Works Act.
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"The minister is hereby empowered to acquire, under this act, any land required for a Government work," it reads.
Ms Freeman says he' simply acknowledging fixing Auckland's housing crisis will require a collective effort.
"Nobody in the individual sectors can do it by themselves.
"You have everybody form Government, council, private sector, developers, iwi, the community housing sector and the finance community… Somehow we have to find a way to bring them together, have a plan and a vision for the city."
While she believes Mr Twyford's target of building 100,000 houses within 10 years is a "big grunty target" which will take at least three years to ramp up, she says it's "bold and innovative and creative".
"At the end of the day we desperately need some solutions around this. So I like the idea."
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