Government weakens housing intensification rules for Auckland

Cabinet has agreed to lower the maximum number of houses in Auckland from 2 million to at least 1.6 million.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced the new figure to Auckland leaders at the International Convention Centre this afternoon.

Auckland Council had been progressing a new plan to accommodate up to 2 million homes in the coming decades.

The council opted out of medium-density rules that apply to most major cities on the proviso it set up zoning for 30 years of growth.

The council's Plan Change 120 set out the process for doing this, but the government has since come under pressure from proponents of heritage homes who have raised concerns about further intensification in character areas that were already seeing major development.

Bishop has now confirmed Cabinet has signed off on legislating to "soften" the housing capacity equivalency requirement.

"Currently, that number equates to at least 2 million, and we are lowering it to at least 1.6 million," he said.

Bishop's speech was derailed a few minutes in after well-known political heckler Karl Mokaraka interrupted the event.

Mokaraka told the minister there was nobody at the gathering from South Auckland and people there did not trust Auckland Council. He also raised his concerns with Kāinga Ora.

Mokaraka was allowed to speak at length and eventually left, escorted by a security staffer.

Bishop told Auckland leaders PC120 had been "divisive" and fears the government had a target of building 2 million homes did not exist.

"The 2 million number was a red herring that transformed into a lightning rod....It's clear a lot of Aucklanders are concerned about what growth means for them.

"That's completely understandable. People want to know that their suburbs will continue to be liveable. That is what government wants too.

"This kind of angst in Auckland isn't helpful for our housing goals. We need people to come with us on the journey of more capacity and more housing. We hear you and we are ready to act."

Bishop said the government believed 1.6 million houses was the midpoint between the 1.2 million figure in the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) and the 2 million figure in PC120.

"This reduction is significant and strikes an appropriate balance between those Aucklanders concerned about densification, and those who wish to see more growth."

He said Cabinet had asked for a summary of the provisional zoning changes the council would make once the government legislated for it.

"Once we legislate the lower housing capacity number, the rest is in Auckland Council's hands."

"The council will determine which parts of Auckland they wish to downzone in PC120. They can then formally withdraw parts of PC120 from the Plan Change, except for those parts needed to implement the NPS-UD or to upzone around key CRL stations."

Brown: 'I'm not sitting up here to have David Seymour tell me what to do'

After the speech, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown fired a warning shot that he would not be dictated by Cabinet.

Act leader David Seymour said the reduced number is a decision in principle and still needed legislation passed.

"The government will now await Auckland Council producing a summary of how the zones will change before legislating," Seymour said.

But Wayne Brown suggested otherwise.

"We're not doing this in order to go to the government and to the Cabinet and ask for their approval," he said.

"I mean, the Cabinet mostly don't even live in Auckland, so that's not going to happen."

The council would "stick with the two million and carry on" if it had to do that, he said.

"I mean, I'm not sitting up here to have David Seymour tell me what to do."

Brown said both he and Chris Bishop were proponents of intensification "in sensible areas" around train stations and bus routes.

On the whittling down from 2 million homes, Brown said people were focused on the wrong thing.

"And that was, we weren't going to have 2 million houses, and it was just a concept that was beyond the thinking of most people.

"If it calms down some worried elderly residents in Epsom, then that's done its job."

Legally complicated

Bishop said it was legally complicated to legislate in the middle of a process that was already underway but the coalition had found a workaround.

"We have devised a way through that will allow Aucklanders to see the areas that will be removed from PC 120 and provide another opportunity for Aucklanders to have their say - including those who have already submitted on PC120 and others who would like to join.

"I want to stress that I am determined to put this issue to bed once and for all. Auckland has been struggling with an update to the AUP since 2021. I accept Parliament hasn't helped, but it's now 2026. I think we've now got the balance right."

He said the new plan would mean growth around the areas that made the most economic sense and where there was the most support - CRL stations, rapid transit stations and metropolitan centres while allowing more flexibility around suburban Auckland.

Existing provisions, such as setback requirements, tower dimension controls, and height limits, constrain development should be revisited, he said.

Bishop said "for largely unfathomable RMA legal reasons" the City Centre Zone was not included in PC120 and the council did not have a simple mechanism to unlock this potential.

"Cabinet has agreed that I will start an investigation into these planning provisions that are holding back Auckland's city centre, with a view to making regulations under the RMA - similar to what we have just announced for Eden Park.

"My intention is that any additional housing capacity enabled in the city centre will count towards the new requirement to provide capacity for at least 1.6 million dwellings.

Together, these changes announced today will provide Auckland Council greater flexibility to respond to the feedback of Aucklanders and tackle our housing crisis."

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