Could granny flats help solve our housing crisis?
What Australia can teach us about secondary housing as a means to address our own property shortfall.
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, June 18.
In today’s edition: Green MP Marama Davidson announces a cancer diagnosis, is it finally time to upgrade our 757s, and an apology after a shortage of hormone replacement therapies. But first, is building into the backyard the key to fixing our housing crisis?
Building up in the backyard
Back in February, housing minister Chris Bishop may have struck fear into the hearts of some homeowners when he said he hoped house prices would drop to a mere three to fives times the average household income, compared to the current nationwide average of 6.6. He didn’t want it to happen overnight, as he told RNZ’s Checkpoint at the time, but over the next couple of decades. How does he believe it will happen? Making it easier to build more houses. Yesterday, there was some movement on this, with the government announcing it would fulfil a pledge in the New Zealand First coalition agreement to consult on allowing granny flats to be built without consents, as Interest’s Dan Brunskill explained here. Acting prime minister Winston Peters said the amendment, which would apply to flats smaller than 60 square metres and one story in height, would make it more affordable for families to live the way “that best suits them”. A discussion document’s been released alongside the proposal, noting that “many district plans already allow granny flats without resource consent, but there’s a lack of consistency and different standards across the country.”
There’s history here
While the proposal may have initially come from New Zealand First, the National Party has previously cited granny flats or small secondary dwellings as one way of countering our housing crisis. Almost eight years ago, Tim Murphy reported for The Spinoff on a speech by then-prime minister John Key where he “raised the prospect of introducing rules for new ‘granny flats’ to be built on the back of Housing New Zealand sites so older tenants could stay while new families took the bigger home”. Then, in 2021, when Labour and National came together on the (since scrapped) cross-party housing density rules, Bernard Hickey reported that Nicola Willis had cited granny flats as one reason the proposal would be positive even for those concerned about increased housing. The new proposal is open for consultation until August, and likely won’t be made law until the middle of next year – but will it even work?
Could second dwellings really help address our housing crisis?
The government’s proposal would see “minor residential units” able to be constructed without resource consent. Bishop told reporters they would still need to meet the building code and be constructed by (or with supervision from) a registered builder, pushing back at a question about whether we might see a repeat of the “leaky homes” scandal. In 2020, a Stuff report asked if building a small secondary property could be the “silver bullet” to the housing supply problem, claiming it was the expensive and inflexible subdivision process that prevented many homeowners from actually doing it. In 2018, for example, a Christchurch local told Stuff’s Tina Law she was “flabbergasted” at the $23,000 of consenting costs involved in putting a small flat on her property for her 76-year-old brother.
We can look to Australia for some indication of whether secondary properties can help address housing shortfalls, given we’re just catching up in this area. The Guardian reported last December that granny flats have been seen as a solution to the housing crisis. One housing provider in Queensland said that secondary dwellings were a “valuable addition” to the housing market, especially for younger people who may otherwise be unable to get on the ladder. But an expert said there was a problem in framing granny flats as an affordable housing solution. “It might be part of the solution, but you’d rather go for a higher-density, more planned approach,” she said, in reference to cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Housing providers and the Labour Party have welcomed our government’s proposal, reported RNZ, though Kieran McAnulty said there were questions still to be answered.
It’s part of a bigger plan
In recent months, the government has made it clear it hopes to tackle the cost of building new homes as a way of allowing more properties to be built. The Post’s Miriam Bell reported in February that building and construction minister Chris Penk planned to look at the different elements that contribute to higher costs, and work out what could be done to alleviate them. “Some quick, easy wins in this space will be possible, particularly in areas where changes are in train already, but other reforms will need systemic change,” he said. After making the shock announcement that it would be scrapping the first home grants, something we’ve talked about extensively in recent weeks, Bishop argued buyer support would be unnecessary if houses became more affordable, something TVNZ’s Jack Tame looked at here. Much like the granny flat debate, Australia has been grappling with this argument as well. Earlier this month, reported BusinessDesk’s Maria Slade (paywalled), the government announced it would be streamlining the consent pathway for foreign investors to acquire land for build to rent developments, such as a large facility recently opened in Auckland.
And returning to the housing minister’s view on whether house prices need to drop, Bishop gave an even more succinct answer when asked yesterday, reports the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan. “Yes”. That’s a rare comment for a housing minister. Whether it happens, it’s a matter of wait and see.
Join The Spinoff Members
“The Spinoff has given me my faith in good journalism back.” Anja, Spinoff member since 2020. If, like Anja, you value our work and want to support us, please consider becoming a member today. Already a member? Ka nui te mihi, your support means the world to us.
Marama Davidson reveals breast cancer diagnosis
The Green Party called an impromptu press conference yesterday, with co-leader Marama Davidson announcing she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and would be undergoing treatment. As Newshub reported, Davidson told reporters that, despite everything, she was feeling “good” and was “grateful for the incredible care and support”. The Green MP will work up until the end of the month, before having a partial mastectomy in the first week of July. She’s anticipating that treatment and recovery will take about four months, but expects to return to parliament later this year. Her absence will leave Chlöe Swarbrick as the party’s sole leader. "I will be returning with fierce determination to fight for people and the planet," Davidson said.
There has been an outpouring of support for Davidson, including from across the political spectrum. On social media, Christopher Luxon, who is in Japan, wrote: "I wish [Davidson] all the very best for a speedy recovery and hope she can join us in parliament again soon."
‘Embarrassing’ plane breakdown dents our reputation
Every time the Defence Force 757 strands our prime minister, I wonder if it will finally be the last time. And then it happens again. As we discussed yesterday, the prime minister was forced to board a commercial flight from Papua New Guinea to Japan after being left stranded in Port Moresby. The story of this latest mishap is splashed across the front page of today’s Herald. It’s not a good look for New Zealand, writes Herald business journalist Jenée Tibshraeny who is on the trip. “It’s proving difficult to sell the country on the world stage when our aged… planes can’t even get us to the stage,” Tibshraeny writes. Law expert Al Gillespie told the Herald it was “embarrassing” and risked having an impact on our global reputation. Despite all of this, the issue remains politically challenging. As defence minister Judith Collins said, reported The Post, the cost of the replacing the aircrafts would be “horrendously expensive”. Lobby groups like the Taxpayers’ Union have already criticised the idea of spending that cash, and Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking rightly pointed out yesterday morning that others would join that chorus if the government decided to replace the planes.
Stuff’s Tova O’Brien has reported that former defence minister Andrew Little proposed buying new planes in Budget 2024. The election result obviously stopped that happening. Meanwhile, as I argued for The Spinoff yesterday, maybe Luxon just needs to take Air New Zealand’s Greg Foran with him everywhere?
Have you listened to Juggernaut?
In a new six-part series, Toby Manhire interviews more than 20 people at the heart of the momentous social, cultural and economic changes that resulted from NZ's pivotal 1984 snap election. Follow now to make sure you get every episode. In case you missed it, episode 1 - I love you, Mr Lange is available now.
Episode two will be released first thing on Thursday and I’ll share that for you here.
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.
Click and Collect
Newshub’s Amanda Gillies has reported on the shortage of hormone replacement therapies, and an apology from Pharmac minister David Seymour to New Zealand women.
I enjoyed this Newsroom Pro (paywalled) report by Fox Meyer looking at the Official Information Act and how you can make requests in basically any medium, even on social media.
The Tony Awards took place yesterday and The Guardian has the full list of winners.
It’s “scrutiny week” at parliament, but Politik’s Richard Harman reports that it has got off to a rocky start (paywalled). Newsroom’s Laura Walters takes a look at how public sector job cuts dominated the first day of the scrutinising.
Off the back of yesterday’s Bulletin on Labour, here’s a BusinessDesk report (paywalled) by Riley Kennedy that takes a look at Chris Hipkins’ relationship with the primary sector.
Buy now, pay later lender Laybuy calls in receivers, reports The Post.
The Spinoff’s Joel MacManus argues that Christopher Luxon loves localism… until locals have the wrong opinions.
The Bulletin revealed yesterday that Patrick Gower was making moves to launch his own independent media outlet, “This is the F#$%ing News”. Today, he’s told the Herald’s Shayne Currie (paywalled) he’s written a book of the same name.
Liam Rātana wonders whether mana motuhake is only a sovereign wealth fund away. Shanti Mathias argues If you’re going to teach kids to write in cursive, you better teach them to read it too. Esme Stark discovers how kiwi returned to Wellington. Finn Barry's car got stolen, then Auckland transport tried to take him to court for it. Zoe George explains rugby's governance problems: misogyny, racism and the 'blazeratti'. Here are all the new movies and TV on streaming services this week.
What you should be reading
The Spinoff’s senior editor and feature writing fanatic Madeleine Holden shares her reading list
It was an A+ weekend on The Spinoff last weekend, with this beautiful tribute by Duncan Greive to his beloved late barber, who sounds like a real character, and this tense and hilarious yarn about speed puzzling by Calum Henderson.
Further afield (in every sense) is this short essay on reactionary feminism and re-enchanting celibacy in Catholic journal The Lamp.
That’s it for The Bulletin today, thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow.
Let me know in the comments, or get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz, if you have any feedback on today’s issue or anything in the news.
If you liked what you read today, share The Bulletin with friends, family and colleagues.
Rationalisation of the "Granny Flat" rule makes total sense. The advances in "tiny homes" in recent years means building code issues should already be sorted, although in some locations there are sewage & stormwater challenges which have to be taken seriously if adding extra dwellings. Just did a deep dive into moving into Retirement Villages, and in many cases it would be a better solution to add a "granny flat" to a family property instead, with no weekly fees, loss of capital gains, and up to 30% going to the organisation running the enterprise when it comes time to re-sell. Familiarity with Maori land restrictions means I hope this would also allow for a lot more Kaumatua housing to be scaled up quickly, as well as emergency housing for whanau. Amazed if this Govt actually achieves something sensible & meaningful with multi-party support from all sides - go figure!
A couple of used Gulfstream G650s or similar will set us back USD$50m each. Small change for a government, with options to pay off over time out just least them. Why are we persisting with these uneconomical (in every sense) dinosauric 757s. We did the exact same thing with the previous aircraft too (B727s).