spinofflive
<> on January 25, 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand.
<> on January 25, 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand.

OPINIONAucklandJuly 27, 2016

Announcing the War for Auckland

<> on January 25, 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand.
<> on January 25, 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand.

War?! We know, we know. But what else would you call the vastly differing visions for Auckland presented by Auckland 2040 and Generation Zero? We feel like the next few months will define this city’s future, and will thus cover the Unitary Plan and the subsequent election with a rare fury. Read on to hear our justification – and to find out how you can help.

Today The Spinoff launches a new pop-up section. For the next three months, alongside Television, Sports, Politics and all that, we will also have an unashamedly campaigning new part of the site called The War For Auckland.

The name is a little provocative, sure. But we think it’s what we’re living through. Today Auckland Council will receive a final set of recommendations from its Independent Hearings Panel on the Unitary Plan. That sounds like a wonky, impenetrable thing. But we think it happens to be a pivotal moment for the Unitary Plan – the single most important publication for this city in our lifetime. Potentially the most important it will ever know.

Too many of our high rises exist solely for business. We think far more should be built for housing, too. (image: Getty)

Does that sound far-fetched? We base that claim on two crucial facts:

1. We are enduring an epic housing crisis that has forced our most vulnerable onto benches and into cars and garages, and left hundreds of thousands more living in sub-standard accommodation, with no prospect of ever owning an adequate home in the city they grew up in.

The median house price in Auckland is now around 10 times the median household income. Before 1990, that figure was around four times the median income. This city is now the fourth-least affordable major housing market in the world. The average Auckland house earned $83,000 last year The average Auckland worker earned $46,800. This has calamitous flow on effects for a whole generation, and for anyone hoping to pursue a career that’s not real estate or mortgage broking in this city. It has a huge impact on business, too.

2. The most important solution to this era-defining challenge is building a new city within the boundaries of the old. One that grows up gracefully. Some movement on the city’s fringes is desirable and inevitable. But the greatest need and opportunity is a massive increase in the quantity of good, warm, dependable and affordable housing, served by fast and efficient public transport and within its current footprint.

The Unitary Plan, this blueprint which sets out the next 30 years of Auckland’s evolution as a city, leaps a crucial hurdle today. For the next month or so, it will be fought over. One side are well-funded, wily and incentivised to ensure that any calls for increased density close to the city are watered down or overturned.

The other are largely poorer, browner, younger and far less well-resourced to fight the calls to freeze them out of the housing market. It terrifies me and everyone in this office to think of what might happen if the Nimbys and their allies win this war. The city they’re fighting for is one that essentially remains the same. That would suit them. Many already own quarter acre museum piece villas. But it would essentially erect a NO VACANCY sign above the city, beaming directly into the eyes of the young and the poor; anyone who doesn’t already own a home here.

What I’m saying is: if we lose this fight, we might as well all leave. We think that’s a deeply depressing thought. We don’t want it, and won’t give up the city without a fight. That’s why we’re getting worked up and belligerent in naming the section.

AN ABANDONED STATE HOUSE BOARDED UP READY FOR REMOVAL ON APRIL 8, 2016 IN AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND. (PHOTO BY HANNAH PETERS/GETTY IMAGES)
AN ABANDONED STATE HOUSE (PHOTO BY HANNAH PETERS/GETTY IMAGES)

Over the past few months we’ve published a number of pieces calling attention to some of the more egregious nonsense being carried out by certain councillors and propagated by certain public figures. We’ll be doing more of that, much more. We’ve had it with the false dichotomy of intensification versus sprawl. The argument, as far as we’re concerned, is settled: the Nimby agenda – leafy suburban opposition to planned and managed density – sounds the death knell for young, future-minded Auckland. Of course we welcome alternative points of view on our site. But we’re not pretending that these are different paths to the same outcome. One way lies the future; the other a giant retirement village. We know which one we want to live in.

Between now and election day on October 8, we will watch the campaign closely. We will run interviews and serious economic analysis of policy. We will assess the issues and the arguments. We will applaud those candidates who run on platforms that will help this city evolve and grow. And we will be calling bullshit as loudly and often as is required.

We’re aware that there are problems elsewhere in the country. We won’t ignore them by any means – but Auckland will be our focus. Both because we’re a comparatively tiny platform that happens to be headquartered here, and because Auckland’s fate matters. If we screw this up and let the forces of darkness/this evil cat win, then the city is essentially ruined until the Unitary Plan’s opponents finally wheeze out their last angry council submission and shuffle off this mortal coil.

Ockham-designed apartments in Eden Terrace of the type which should rationally carpet our transport corridors (Image: Ockham)
Apartments in Eden Terrace of the type which should rationally carpet our transport corridors (Image: Ockham)

So this post is to announce our intention. But it’s also to say that, if you believe this is important too, then we’d love your help. We’ve funded every part of our coverage of this election and the housing crisis ourselves to this point – from satirical takes to deeply reported features. It’s part of how we give back to the community which raised us. But it’s also exhausting, and expensive.

So for the first time we’re opening up the opportunity to contribute to The Spinoff financially via our PledgeMe campaign. We’re asking for money for this specific project, from both businesses and individuals, to chip in either publicly or anonymously. What we’re saying is: if you think it’s important that we live in a modern city which is fit for purpose into the future, then we would love your help to cover this election with that in mind.

The money we get will be ploughed into paying contributors, increasing the social reach of election-specific posts, creating collateral, developing election-specific parts of the site, paying fact-checkers, creating video – basically anything we can think of to make the young and the interested care more about the election, and get them voting.

So if you’re a business that has an interest in a vibrant and growing city, or an individual who wants to see something done about our ongoing housing calamity, then consider making a donation. We’re going to do whatever we can regardless – but every dollar we get will help us do more, and amplify our work more loudly.

At the end of the process, just prior to election time, we’re going to do another thing not typically done in New Zealand. We will endorse specific candidates in every single ward. We’re going to say that if you want the kind of city that serves all Aucklanders – not just those lucky enough to have won a generational jackpot – these are the people you should vote for. Because part of the reason no one votes in council elections is that the candidates are essentially invisible.

No longer, if we can help it.

If you’re a candidate opposing a density shock and this irks you – good. Maybe get some better policies. If you’re in favour of a smarter, denser, more coherent city, then this should work out pretty well for you.

For everyone else, particularly the young people who vote less and get less out of their city, please consider filling out the ridiculous pen-and-paper voting ballot. This one matters a lot more than the flag, and probably more than the next national election, in Auckland at least.

We’re not guaranteeing we’ll succeed. But we are saying that we’re sick of pretending this is anything like a normal political situation. We don’t care which side of the aisle you come from – there are great policy solutions on both sides, and both Vic Crone and Phil Goff are saying the right things. But we do strongly believe that something must be done, and done now. So watch this space for election coverage like no other.

And click here to help

tomatofeat

AucklandJuly 26, 2016

The Auckland housing story has changed a lot since that infamous pitchfork meeting

tomatofeat

Five months after the infuriating marathon Auckland Council meeting on ‘upzoning’ comes a massive moment for the future of the city and its critical Unitary Plan. Between the two events, housing, and Auckland housing especially, has completely dominated the political agenda

Five months and two days, so the adage goes, is a long time in politics. On February 24 2016, Auckland councillors gathered for an extraordinary meeting to consider objections to “up-zoning” plans for leafy suburbs, which had been shoehorned clumsily into the draft Unitary Plan. It was the one, remember, where young people from the Council’s Youth Advisory Chair and Generation Zero were roundly booed and jeered by portions of the homeowning classes for having the temerity to suggest that unless Auckland embraced higher-density housing in inner city suburbs it was basically telling them and their peers to bugger off and live in another part of the country/world.

It riled the Spinoff’s mild-mannered senior cat-and-mouse correspondent, Hayden Donnell, to the brink of angry-tears:

At the end of last week the central-government-appointed Independent Hearings Panel delivered its recommendations on the Auckland Unitary Plan. The Auckland Council will publish those tomorrow, triggering a fresh round of debate on how to fix housing in the Super City.

Auckland’s housing crisis is many years in the making, but since that eventful February meeting it has gathered steam, in the sense that a runaway train careering towards the lip of a yawning cliff is gathering steam.

To recap, a selection of the noteworthy moments in the Auckland housing debate since that epic, pitchfork-festooned meeting …

April 16

The NZ Herald launches an extensive and influential series on the housing situation in Auckland and beyond, “Home Truths”.

hometruths

April 26

The average Auckland house is reported to have become more expensive that the equivalent in Sydney, according to one measure.

April 26

John Key floats the idea of a land tax on property owners based abroad.

May 14

Newshub’s The Nation airs a track on Auckland’s homelessness problem, showing people living in makeshift accommodation including cars, which sets the news agenda for weeks to come.

May 16

The prime minister advises anyone living in a car to go into their local Work and Income office for assistance.

May 17

Homeless Aucklanders are reported to be racking up thousands of dollars of debt to Work and Income after being placed in motels owing to a shortage of state housing.

May 18

The Labour Party calls for the Auckland urban growth boundary to be abolished, earning backing from the Finance Minister.

May 19

Te Puea Marae in Mangere opens its doors to Auckland’s homeless, becoming a focal point for the issue, and perceived failures of officialdom to deal with the problem.

May 20

Social housing minister Paula Bennett says there is no housing crisis in New Zealand, while the Salvation Army says the situation is worse than it has seen before.

tomato

May 26

On the eve of the budget, Paula Bennett announces a $5,000 grant for those seeking social housing to leave Auckland, but fails to forewarn the finance minister she’ll be doing so.

June 1

John Key encourages people looking to buy affordable houses to Google TradeMe for homes under $500,000.

June 2

Nick Smith unveils a “National Policy Statementintended to drive councils to free up more land for development.

June 3

Paula Bennet comes under fire after the Salvation Army says her claims it joined the MSD on a “flying squad” knocking on cars with people living in them were untrue.

June 9

The Reserve Bank signals plans to beef up loan-to-value ratio restrictions for property investors.

June 10

BNZ joins ANZ and Westpac in announcing it will no longer lend to foreign house buyers.

June 14

Paula Bennett apologises to Te Puea Marae chairman Hurimoana Dennis, who is also a senior police officer, after one of her staff leaked information he was under police investigation to a journalist.

TePueaFeat

 

June 20

Auckland mayoral candidate Victoria Crone says she would seek to impose rates hikes on unoccupied properties.

July 2

The National Party announces at its conference a billion-dollar infrastructure fund in an effort to help councils borrow for house building

July 4

Former chief Reserve Bank economist Arthur Grimes says the Auckland housing crisis is so severe the state should flood the Auckland market with 150,000 homes and aim for a 40% crash in prices.

July 5

The prime minister sends a barbed message to the Reserve Bank, suggesting it should beef up restrictions on lending to help curb house price inflation.

July 6

The prime minister says it’s not a housing crisis, it’s a housing challenge.

July 8

The Reserve Bank and the government get in a bit of a row about the impact of immigration on Auckland’s housing (non-)crisis.

July 8

Former Reserve Bank governor and former leader of various political parties Don Brash says Auckland house prices need to drop by as much as 60%.

July 9

Labour launches its housing plan.

July 11

The government gets in a muddle as it U-turns on the Housing NZ dividend.

July 12

Paula Bennett announces a modular housing plan.

July 14

Rich-lister Stephen Jennings launches a remarkable critique of the National government’s failure over housing.

July 19

The Reserve Bank signals plans to beef up loan-to-value ratio restrictions for property investors.

July 19

Auckland housing affordability is reported to be leading to a shortage of primary school teachers in the city.

July 21

ANZ chief executive David Hisco joins the chorus of financial establishment figures warning that too little is being done to address a dangerously overcooked Auckland housing market.

July 27 (tomorrow)

Just a few months out from council elections, the government-appointed Independent Panel reports back on the Unitary Plan. (And the Spinoff launches a special pop-up site on the future of Auckland…)