Labour's housing plan includes removing barriers to building by repealing the Resource Management Act (RMA) - which all major parties want - and continuing with KiwiBuild despite first-term failures.
Labour has already made changes to the RMA, including passing the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020, which included making sure projects with large impacts on the climate could not get consents without considering their greenhouse gas emissions.
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern wants to continue repealing the RMA by removing restrictive planning rules she says are one of the causes of high house prices.
"Labour will continue to improve the availability of land for housing through better integrated planning and investment in urban development, infrastructure and transport, and set standards for quality urban design," she said on Friday.
Repealing the RMA is something all major political parties seem to agree on, with National leader Judith Collins touting it as one of her big promises. But there's not the same consensus on Labour's housing programme KiwiBuild, which it intends to continue despite first-term failures.
"While KiwiBuild has not met our expectations, we have refocused it to provide a pathway for first home buyers, with 602 homes built and 927 under construction in August 2020," Labour's housing policy launched on Friday says.
"Labour remains determined to keep making progress on housing. We know there is a lot more to do and it will take time to roll out."
Labour campaigned on KiwiBuild as the solution to the housing crisis, promising 100,000 houses in 10 years, but with just 258 houses built as of September 2019, the policy was 'reset' - the targets were dropped and it shifted towards progressive home ownership.
On top of progressive home ownership, the revamped KiwiBuild included changes to the requirements for a KiwiSaver HomeStart grant. The deposit requirement was reduced from 10 percent to 5 percent.
The KiwiBuild programme was recently tweaked to allow up to a quarter of unsold KiwiBuild homes into the open market, so now 25 percent - up from 15 percent - of KiwiBuild homes that don't sell to people who fit the criteria, can be sold.
The Government also announced a $350 million Residential Development Response Fund to support the residential construction sector hit by COVID-19, and it was sold as a complementary programme to KiwiBuild.
The fund uses repurposed KiwiBuild funding by having the Government share some of the increased risk associated with COVID-19 by backing developments through underwrites - either purchasing unsold houses from developers or topping up any shortfall, depending on the contract.
Similar underwriting happens on KiwiBuild developments.
"I've seen first-hand how excited new owners are to get into their KiwiBuild homes getting into their properties, and they are proving popular with home buyers who are looking for affordable homes," said Labour's housing spokesperson Megan Woods.
ACT leader David Seymour says it's too little too late.
"It's taken Labour three years to wake up to the fact that the RMA has caused the housing crisis, and after the disaster of KiwiBuild, does anybody really believe it can deliver? It's time for real change on housing."
Data from Real Estate.co.nz shows the national average asking price is up by 11.5 percent on last year. Auckland's average asking house price is now more than $1 million - the highest it's ever been.
Last election, the Labour Party campaigned to ban foreign buyers, extend the brightline test and introduce a capital gains tax.
The brightline test was extended from two years to five years under Labour. It requires tax to be paid on any gains from residential property that is sold within five years of purchase, excluding the family home or inherited property.
Ardern ended up ruling out a capital gains tax, and economist Shamubeel Eaqub says the ban on foreign buyers and the brightline test extension, as well as KiwiBuild, "weren't very effective".
"They increased state housing stock, which is good, but demand has still outstripped supply," Eaqub told RNZ.
Labour hopes to increase housing stock by removing barriers to building homes with RMA changes, because the timeframe for a resource consent to be processed in most cases is 20 working days.
A review of the RMA recommended it be split into two pieces of legislation, a Natural and Built Environments Act and a Strategic Planning Act, and both Labour and National are in favour of this approach.
Labour's environment spokesperson David Parker said Labour would ensure that New Zealand's resource management system is fit for the future.
"The current system is too costly, takes too long, and has not adequately protected the environment," he said. "We undertook the most comprehensive review of the resource management system in its 30 year history, and we will implement its core recommendations in the next parliamentary term."
The Government has already put in place a fast-track consenting law to create jobs to help with the COVID-19 recovery. But that fast-tracked consenting is only in place for two years and the Greens raised concerns about iwi and other stakeholders not being consulted enough.
Labour is also sticking to its promise of delivering more than 18,000 public houses by 2024.
The Government promised to deliver an extra 8000 new public and transitional homes through Budget 2020, in addition to the 6400 public housing homes that were currently being built.
Labour's other promises
- Introduce an Earthquake-prone Building Remediation Service estimated to cost $12 million over four years.
- Review the law governing building developments where multiple owners own a unit title and there is shared ownership of common areas.
- Improve fair tenancy dispute resolution.
- Introduce a mandatory Code of Conduct and licensing regime for property managers.
- Progress the Building for Climate Change programme to help get us to Carbon Zero by 2050.
- Lease and build more energy efficient buildings.
- Strengthen Māori housing outcomes through collaborative partnerships
- Continue to implement the Homelessness Action Plan, including ending the reliance on motels.
