sep 16, 2016 - Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas - extended
Description:
Amendments to the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013:
• extended the date by which Special Housing Areas could be established by three years, to 16 September 2019 and extended the date of repeal of the entire Act by three years to 16 September 2021;
• tightened the time limits for consent applications and plan change requests in Special Housing Areas. It enabled Special Housing Areas to remain active for 12 months from the date of gazetting, but then enabled the Minister to disestablish the Special Housing Area if no consent applications or plan change requests had been made;
• dealt with transition issues relating to new District Plans becoming operative by allowing plan change requests that were lodged but not completed when a new District Plan become operative to continue under the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013 and not be over-ruled by the new District Plan. [Note the Auckland Unitary Plan was expected to become operative in October 2016 and there were five Special Housing Areas (with a capacity for around 3,180 homes) where plan change requests had been lodged, but were not zoned residential in the Auckland Unitary Plan.]; and
• provided that consent applications and plan changes requests in Special Housing Areas could be assessed against the version of the District Plan that was relevant at the time that the application was lodged, or against the new District Plan, if the applicant wished.
The legislation also amended the Housing Act 1955 to clarify that the offer-back obligations under the Public Works Act 1981 did not apply to the sale of land as part of the Crown’s housing objectives.
The purpose of the legislation was to support the Government’s programme of work to increase the supply and affordability of housing and to maintain the momentum of the strong growth in new home construction.
In 2013, the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas legislation had been introduced as a short-term measure, particularly focused on Auckland, to enable new housing areas to be opened up while the new Auckland Unitary Plan was being completed. The extension recognised high housing demand in areas outside of Auckland where the legislation was providing for an on-going supply of new residential housing and where the existing plan change processes were likely to be too slow. The extension enabled this interim mechanism to continue until the National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity was implemented, the Resource Management Act 1991 reforms were progressed and a new urban development authority mechanism was available.
Source: https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/about-msd/history/social-assistance-chronology-programme-history.html
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