John MacDonald: The quarter-acre dreamers need to wake-up

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

There are going to be some noses out of joint today, with this announcement from the Government about what it’s going to do to try and sort out the shortage of houses in this country.

In Housing Minister Chris Bishop’s own words, the Government is going to “flood” cities with more land so that more houses can be built, so that supply can go up, and so that more people can afford a roof over their heads.

But that’s not all. It’s also going to stop local councils from mandating balconies or minimum floor areas for places like apartments. Instead, property developers and the market are going to decide that.

Which sounds like good old fashioned ‘supply and demand’ at work, doesn’t it?

So how is it going to do this “flooding of the market” with more land so that more places can be built?

Well again, this is going to be another thing that gets local councils brassed off. It’s going to tell councils that they can no longer set fixed urban-rural boundaries.

Which will have some people upset about productive farmland being sacrificed for housing. But what is a government to do?

Which is why I think we need to, at least, give the Government’s ideas a chance. To give it a go.

But don’t expect councils to be so open-minded. Because you can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll be banging-on about the Government over-reaching. Poking its nose in local business when it shouldn’t be.

They’ll be telling the Government to butt out. Which Chris Bishop fully expects, of course.

I can think already of one council, in particular, that will be pushing back.

The same council that —as one of its members said at the time— “flipped the bird” at the last government over its housing intensification plans.

Christchurch city is the one I’m referring to. And I’m picking that it will be lining-up to butt heads with the Government over this latest attempt to sort out the housing situation in New Zealand.

But we know what will happen. It will just turn out to be bluster and noise. And the Government will get its way. Which, in my opinion, it should.

Because any opposition —from local councils, anyway— is just about patch protection. That’s all it is. They don’t really give a damn about amenities and solving problems.

What’s more, I think we have to move on from this idea that you’re not living unless you have a standalone house on a quarter-acre section. That you haven’t made it in life if you can’t walk out the back door and feel grass under your feet - grass that you own. Or the bank owns, anyway.

It’s a fallacy. It’s a dead-end street. And when you see your local councillors —and I’m not just talking about Christchurch here, either— when you see your local councillors jumping up-and-down saying the Government is pouring cold water on the quarter acre dream, cover your ears.

Because they’re not worried about your dreams. They’re not worried about realistic, sustainable solutions to the housing shortage. They’re not worried about your backyard. They’re just worried about their own.

And the Government is doing way more than any council will to fix the housing crisis.

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