More Housing Plan Changes on the way for Auckland
by Matt Lowrie
The government requiring the council to zone for more housing in Auckland is dead, long live the government requiring the council to zone for more housing in Auckland.
One of the governments key housing polices when was to make optional the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) requirement for councils to allow up to three storey town houses throughout our cities, something National made a bipartisan deal with the former Labour government to introduce in the first place. Most councils have already completed their plan changes to implement the changes but Auckland is one of the few who hasn't, and wasn't even close to finishing.
Yesterday the government announced that they were allowing Auckland Council to withdraw Plan Change 78, which was implementing the MDRS standards as well as National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) which requires even higher densities around key centres and public transport stations. But the council will have new requirements in in it's place.
City-shaping changes are coming to New Zealand’s largest city, ensuring that Auckland can fully harness the economic growth benefits of the new City Rail Link, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say.
The Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill (the Bill) has been reported back to Parliament today by the Environment Committee, containing significant changes to enable housing growth in our largest cities.
“After many months, Auckland Council and the Government have reached agreement to free up more land for housing, particularly around City Rail Link (CRL) stations. These are some of the most significant changes to the shape of Auckland since the Auckland Unitary Plan,” Mr Bishop says.
“It doesn’t make sense that we have single story houses on quarter acre sections a stone’s throw away from stations that, in a year or so, will see trains every few minutes.
“The Government and the Council are investing billions in CRL and have a shared vision for stations that become hubs for public transport, mixed use development and new housing.
“Successive Governments and Councils have failed to grasp this opportunity for economic growth in New Zealand’s largest city. This is how modern, growing cities all around the world operate, and now it’s Auckland’s turn.”
“Today’s announcements are a result of Auckland Council and the Government working together to deliver a plan for more housing that works for Auckland. The Bill now has the effect of abolishing the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) in Auckland while requiring more housing density around key public transport corridors - a common sense solution for Auckland,” Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says.
We only need to look at the impact the Unitary Plan had on building consents to see why allowing more housing is so important. Building consents for new houses soared and peaked in 2022 at almost 22,000 per year but have come back down again to less than 14,000 largely due to the economy and government policy.
New plan change for Auckland
“Auckland’s intensification plan change, PC78, has been underway since 2022. Progress has been slow for many reasons, including the Auckland floods. The intensification plan change process does not allow Auckland to “downzone” certain areas due to natural hazard risk – only to “upzone” them – and the Council wrote to the government asking them to fix this problem,” Mr Bishop says.
“The Government has therefore agreed to change the Bill to allow Auckland to withdraw PC78. However, the government is determined to unlock housing capacity in Auckland and fix our housing crisis and has taken steps to ensure this is achieved.
“Earlier in the year I directed Auckland Council to bring forward decisions on the parts of PC78 that relate to the city centre, requiring final decisions to be made by the end of May. Auckland Council met this requirement, finalising this part of PC78 on 22 May 2025.
“These decisions made by the council are a step forward in increasing development capacity in Auckland’s CBD, but there is more work to be done.
“The Bill as reported back from the committee now allows Auckland Council to remove the remaining parts of PC78, but requires them to process a new plan change urgently. This plan change must be notified by 10 October this year, and must enable housing capacity equal to or greater than that enabled by PC78.
A new plan change notified by the 10 October doesn't leave a lot of time for the council to prepare and notify a new plan change which makes me think that they'll need to reuse a lot of the work they've done for MDRS anyway. Getting it done by then will be even tricker with local body elections coming up - voting opens 9 September and closes on 11 October. Typically the last council meeting of the term is right at the end of September so having upzoning decisions in the middle of the election could create some interesting outcomes.
It's good that they'll be required to to enable equal or greater housing capacity than PC78, though I'm concerned that council planners will take the opportunity to scale back zoning throughout the inner isthmus areas and push it to other parts of the region.
One thing that will help make up those capacity numbers is they'll need to address the gaping hole in PC78 they absurdly left around the potential light rail corridor.
I always thought it was particularly absurd that the council left off changes around the three train stations in this corridor given the NPS-UD standards would apply regardless of what happened with light rail. So, interestingly, there was one additional catch with the announcement.
“As I’ve indicated, the Government is keen to see greater density around public transport, particularly City Rail Link stations. The Bill therefore now also requires Auckland to allow for greater density around the key CRL stations of Maungawhau (Mount Eden), Kingsland, and Morningside.
“Auckland Council must enable within a walkable distance from these stations heights and densities reflective of the higher demand for housing and business in these areas. This requirement goes further than the existing requirements under the NPS-UD, and I expect heights and densities that ensure we make the most of the opportunities offered by this transformational transport project.
“The government is also considering whether further amendments to the Bill to fully maximise development opportunities around other CRL stations as necessary, and I will have more to say in due course."
The report from the Environment Select Committee doesn't give any extra indication of how these requirements go further than the NPS-UD but does say that they'll be subject to relevant qualifying matters so I suspect council planners will absolutely use this to keep these areas as unchanged as they possibly can.