Property Council New Zealand has welcomed the government’s announcement of a crown company to invest in housing infrastructure.
“The Property Council has long called for adequate funding tools, and at last the crown gives us a useful solution to address New Zealand’s housing crisis,” says Property Council New Zealand Chief Executive Connal Townsend.“We have a severe lack of housing,” he notes.
“If we continue along this path, you will see more homelessness.“The development community is ready to respond to the urgent need for more housing.
“The handbrake has been a lack of infrastructure such as roading, water and sewerage that supports development.
“Building cities costs a lot of money and infrastructure is a large proportion of that cost.
“The $1 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, whilst a great initiative, does not address how some councils, who are ruled by strict debt ratios, would be able to carry that debt on their balance sheet.”
Townsend believes this move by the government to co-invest $600 million alongside local councils and private investors in network infrastructure for housing development, will finally start to remove the handbrake.
“The traditional way we have funded growth in our cities is way out of date and cannot deliver the infrastructure and housing we need.
“By setting up a crown company, the crown retains the legal ownership of the debt, thus allowing councils to access the fund and get much needed infrastructure built.
“This has enormous potential, provided councils also partner with the development community.”
