BUDGET 2017: Crown land for house-build to cost $100 million

Thursday 25th May 2017

The government set aside $100 million to free up unused Crown land to help cater to its house-building programme announced before today’s budget.

The Crown Land Development Programme is contributing land for 2,700 of the proposed 34,000 houses to be built. Social Housing Minister Amy Adams previously announced the house-building plan, which would see new houses built and 8,300 torn down, of which 20 percent would be priced as affordable and a further 20 percent set aside for social housing.

Today’s capital will pay for 1,200 of the 2,700 houses tagged for Crown land.

The announcement was one of several smaller announcements in the budget, which included the pre-announced $205 million boost to social housing places and wrap-around support services.

The country’s housing market has been a thorn in the government’s side as various policy prescriptions to address years of under-supply take a while to ease the imbalance.

Other initiatives announced today included a four-year $4.9 million boost to implement the National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity, which is seen as a key step in removing resource consenting obstacles for rapid house construction.

The Crown expects to spend $2.7 billion on housing over the next four years, which includes part of the 10-year house building programme.

(BusinessDesk)

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