Two new greenfield Special Housing Areas (SHAs) that will provide up to 1800 new homes in Auckland have been announced today by Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith and Mayor Len Brown.

"These two latest Special Housing Areas at Glenbrook and Drury in Franklin now bring the total number of Special Housing Areas in Auckland to 86, with a combined potential yield of up to 45,000 new homes. I am particularly encouraged that Auckland Council is continuing to advance greenfield sites for Special Housing Area status. This is welcome progress, in both scale and momentum, to help address Auckland's issues of housing supply and affordability," Dr Smith says.

The two new SHAs announced today are:

• McLarin Road, Glenbrook: 87 hectares, 800 homes; and
• Bremner Road, Drury: 68 hectares, at least 1000 homes.

"Both of the new sites are already closely located to amenities such as local halls, reserves and education centres, and we are confident that the proposed housing developments at these sites can be well-serviced by existing or planned water, waste and roading infrastructure," Mr Brown says.

"I also commend the undertaking from the developer to build at least 150 affordable homes at Bremner Road – or 15 per cent of the total project. This is above the 10 per cent affordable housing provision which is required in the Special Housing Area by the council.

"The council will be considering additional SHAs over the next few weeks, and hope to recommend more locations to the Minister in coming months," Mr Brown says.

The Auckland Housing Accord, which was agreed in October 2013 by Dr Smith and Mr Brown, provides for the creation of SHAs by Auckland Council with the approval of the Government. Qualifying developments in these areas can be streamlined and fast-tracked. 

The Minister and Mayor also announced a 5.2-hectare extension to an existing 29-hectare SHA at Fred Taylor Drive in Massey. The Glenbrook site was gazetted yesterday, while the Drury site and the extension at Fred Taylor Drive have been recommended to Government by council and is due for gazettal shortly.

Dr Smith also welcomed yesterday's gazettal of 13 new SHAs for Wellington that will eventually provide 670 new homes. This follows the announcement earlier this week of two further SHAs in Tauranga that have a potential yield of 210 homes.

"We now have in place 118 Special Housing Areas through Housing Accords agreed with eight local councils across the country. Altogether, they will deliver more than 49,000 new homes across New Zealand, that will make a real difference to addressing the country's housing supply and affordability challenge," Dr Smith says.

"The Government has a wider programme of work underway which includes initiatives to constrain building materials costs, rein in development contributions, cut compliance costs and invest in improved sector productivity. Our new $435 million HomeStart support package, which came into effect 1 April, will provide grants of up to $20,000 for 90,000 first home buyers.

"We remain committed to supporting this momentum and will continue with our programme to grow the supply of housing."

Further information on the Auckland Housing Accord is available from:www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/housingsupply/
Pages/aucklandhousingaccord.aspx.