There's an easy way the Labour government can build 'affordable' homes in Auckland. Just go back a year to when National was denying there was a housing crisis and the then Minister for Housing Nick Smith suggested using Crown land to build homes.
Back then I floated the idea of leasing this land to home-buyers so it would cut $200,000 or more off the price of a new home. Home owners would pay a peppercorn rent for the land, and the Crown would retain a valuable asset.
It seems such an obvious solution to me. Why do we need to sell publicly-owned land to a developer at all? Build and lease equals cheaper homes for first-time buyers. Simple.
And developers need to build homes people can afford. Couples only need a two-bed home, not four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a double garage.
Near to where I live I have watched as large homes have been built on sections that could have accommodated three terraced properties or a pair of semi-detached homes. The developer could have built at least twice as many homes, but for some reason decided not to.
