Auckland Council’s new Chief Economist, Gary Blick, and his team are working on some fresh economic insights for Auckland as we near the end of the first quarter of 2022.
The role of the Chief Economist Unit is to assist staff and elected officials to evaluate the economic implications of policy and infrastructure proposals, for society as a whole and with regard to future generations.
The Chief Economist has an independent, evidence-based voice within council and provides public comment on Auckland’s economic conditions and the trade-offs of our housing, land use and transport policy choices.
The unit’s first Auckland Economic Quarterly for 2022, due to be published in early March, will provide an overview of Auckland’s challenges and opportunities, from an economic perspective.
A central focus will be on the government’s recent moves to require councils in New Zealand’s biggest cities – including Auckland – to enable more high-density housing close to the city centre, metropolitan town centres and rapid transit hubs.
Those moves and the process Auckland Council needs to follow to reflect them in the Auckland Unitary Plan by August 2022 are outlined here.
Blick says: “Auckland can do better in enabling development capacity in the right places – in relatively central areas with proximity to jobs, transport links and other amenities – to ensure that housing supply is better able to respond to preferences and future changes in demand.”
“This is about improving the wellbeing of society as a whole, including future generations and households yet to be formed. Improving housing choice and affordability is vital if Auckland is to hold onto its young people and to attract the skills we need,” he says.
