The new government will be "ambitious" when it comes to housing and infrastructure, says new Housing Minister Phil Twyford.
"We have a minister who accepts there’s a housing crisis, and this is the first step," he told 1 NEWS political reporter Katie Bradford today.
"We're going to build 100,000 houses over 10 years. We're ambitious. We want to do massive urban communities with transport infrastructure, affordable housing and all the things that communities need."
He called the lack of infrastructure a "road block" when it came to creating new developments.
"It's also why we need to do more development in the city around the rail network , investing in old communities with new development, affordable housing and great places for people to live."
Mr Twyford said international investors like the idea of tapping into New Zealand infrastructure, which could provide the government with "very cheap bonds".
About 10-15 large urban development areas were on the cards around Auckland, "particularly around the rail network".
"Very creative urban development projects" could be completed by working with current land owners, iwi and councils, he said.
It's not just Auckland he's looking at.
"Queenstown for example is almost as expensive, and in some cases more expensive than Auckland."
Phil Twyford says he doesn't want to be spending $100,000 a day putting homeless Kiwis up in motels. (Source: Other)
"All over New Zealand in regional centres there are falling rates of home ownership and in places like Rotorua and Tauranga there are extreme levels of homelessness, we're not going to let the grass grow under our feet to address this problem."
Legislation like the Resouce Management Act could be scrutinised to make it easier for councils to create new projects.
"We have to get government and local councils doing much more robust and serious planning," Mr Twyford said.
He criticised the Special Housing Areas as a "total flop".
"They delivered fewer than 100 affordable homes in three years in Auckland. They really didn't help the problem."
The trolley buses in Wellington could also be looking at an overhaul, with Mr Twyford wanting to "see a transition to modern electric rapid transit".
SHARE ME