"Since the mid-1970s, our population has grown by two million, but we're building fewer houses now than we did then. It's no wonder we have a housing crisis."
Housing costs as a proportion of income are some of the highest in the developed world, Seymour claimed.
"An entire generation has been locked out of homeownership. Thousands live in insecure housing and others have no home whatsoever.
Act Party leader David Seymour in Tauranga today. Photo / George Novak
"Everyone agrees that our planning system is to blame. We simply don't allow enough building – whether up or out – to house our growing population. Governments of all stripes have failed to confront this challenge."
ACT said it would repeal the Resource Management Act and replace it with separate Environmental Protection and Urban Development Acts. The Urban Development Act would be based on the recommendations of the Productivity Commission's Better Urban Planning report.
He said ACT would also take the politics out of infrastructure and get central and local government working together through 30-year infrastructure partnerships, devolving revenue and responsibility to regional governments and the private sector, while strengthening accountability and oversight from central government.
"We need investment in high-quality infrastructure to boost jobs, wages and growth. But the current arrangements for delivering infrastructure are inadequate and the issue has become highly politicised.
"At the heart of the problem is a separation between planning, which is done at a local level, and infrastructure funding, where central government has the overwhelming majority of revenue. Central government can afford, but can't plan, infrastructure, and local government can plan, but has little revenue.
"Governments have chosen where to build roads, bridges, and railway lines, based on political advantage rather than economic need, and changes of government every three years bring uncertainty and the risk that decisions will be reversed."
Act Party leader David Seymour in Tauranga today. Photo / George Novak
Solving long-term infrastructure deficit would allow the next generation to build homes which are connected to opportunities in employment and education by quality infrastructure.
"New Zealanders deserve much better. The next generation needs to be able to Build Like the Boomers did. ACT is offering real change and real solutions for our housing and infrastructure challenges," Seymour said.
ACT's Housing and Infrastructure Strategy aims to: • Repeal and replace the Resource Management Act. • Get councils out of the building consent and inspection business and introduce mandatory private insurance for new housing. • Take the politics out of infrastructure and get central and local government working together through long-term infrastructure partnerships. • Make it easier for investors from OECD countries to invest in infrastructure. • Establish a state-owned Infrastructure Corporation to own, manage, and expand the government's infrastructure assets. • Reform building materials regulation to automatically approve building products approved by high-quality regulators in similar jurisdictions.
