March 2022
The Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Bill which seeks to rapidly accelerate the supply of housing in urban areas has been passed into law.
From August 2022, councils will be forced to allow townhouses of up to three storeys with up to three dwellings on almost all residential sites in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga, and Hamilton, as these will not require resource consent.
The Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 amends the Resource Management Act 1991 to require ‘tier 1’ councils to set more permissive land use regulations to enable greater housing intensification.
This law aims to alter the core presumption of planning rules so that the default option for councils is to allow new houses to be developed, rather than to disallow it. The law change is a part of the strategy to stop so-called NIMBYs from stopping new houses from being built. NIMBY stands for ‘Not In My Backyard’. It is a pejorative term for those who disapprove of any development in their neighbourhood that they think may have a negative impact on them.
Currently, a developer has to apply for resource consent to develop a three storey house or to build three townhouses in most zones under most district plans. Councils can decline the resource consent for various reasons. Part of the process is to seek written ‘affected party approval’ from neighbours who might be affected by the development. So, effectively neighbours have a say as to how a developer is allowed to build. Even if affected party approval is given, the council can still ask for the consent to be ‘notified’ if it believes the development will affect a wider community.
If there are submissions against the development, that can result in a public hearing before an independent hearing panel that makes a final decision. The decision can be appealed to the Environment Court and then the High Court if either side disagrees.
The Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 will:
The Government hopes that the new rules will result in at least 48,200 and as many as 105,500 new homes being built in the next 5-8 years throughout New Zealand. (see – https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/red-tape-cut-boost-housing-supply 19 October 2021).
However, there appears to be no clear direction as to who is responsible for the infrastructure required to support this accelerated supply of housing in urban areas. The argument presented before the select committee was that the bill would not change the total number of people living in cities, so essentially would not change infrastructure costs. Presumably, that is something about which we will have to wait and see.