I have serious concerns about the future for Aucklanders on lower incomes who have rented all their lives, especially those aged 50 years or older who have raised children in Housing New Zealand rented homes.
Many of these older Aucklanders, whose children have grown up and moved on, remain on low incomes or are unemployed.
It is not helpful to them that housing in Auckland remains unaffordable and that the cost of rent is skyrocketing. Auckland needs to make available more affordable housing now.
I welcome both central government and the council looking seriously into the processing of resource consents. The legislation to fast-track consents under the Housing Accord is a step in the right direction, as is the council’s ‘Consenting made easy’ project.
We are aiming to make consenting more user-friendly and simple so that developers can provide something affordable to meet the growing market.
