Hamilton City Council and the Government have signed a Housing Accord today as a way to increase housing supply and improve housing affordability in Hamilton.

Minister for Building and Construction Dr Nick Smith and Hamilton Mayor Andrew King signed the agreement to fast-track planning and consenting processes to bring more housing to the market.

Mayor King says we’re being proactive by entering the agreement.

“We’re excited about this strong partnership between the Council and the Government. I’m pleased to be working so closely with them to achieve great outcomes for our city,” says Mayor King.

“Even though we have developer ready land available, I believe we need a surplus of titled sections on the market. A recent shortage in titled sections has pushed prices to unacceptably high levels. An increase in supply will positively impact on prices for prospective home owners.”

Hamilton City Council Chief Executive Richard Briggs thanks the Minister and officials for achieving this outcome.

“It’s the fastest turnaround of a Housing Accord. The Council can now make it easier and faster to complete housing developments,” says Mr Briggs.

“The Accord will allow us to strengthen relationships with developers and speed up planning processes to achieve our housing targets.”

Hamilton has grown faster than predicted in the past two years. In the next five years Hamilton’s population is estimated to continue growing from 161,000 in 2016 to 177,000 in 2021.

By the end of 2016, it’s estimated the Council will approve 1271 building consents for new residential dwellings. The Accord outlines targets for the number of dwelling and section consents issued in Hamilton for the next three years; 1300 for 2017, 1400 for 2018 and 1500 for 2019.

The next stage in this process is for the Council to create a policy going into further practical details related to identifying key areas in the city known as Special Housing Areas.

Special Housing Areas are defined areas of land in the city that are not currently zoned for housing, which the Council can quickly rezone to enable more houses to be built.

The Accord will work in conjunction with other strategic planning documents including the National Policy

Statement for Urban Development Capacity, the Partly Operative District Plan, Hamilton Urban Growth Strategy and Future Proof Strategy.