When I moved into a house around the corner from Mt Eden Rd, it dramatically improved my life. The house wasn’t great but it was next to Mt Eden’s bus routes and not far from the train station.
Job interviews were easier to get to. My commute was shorter. I had fast access to cafes in Mt Eden village, vibrant entertainment in the CBD and could travel further afield via the Mt Eden train station.
I eventually outgrew that house and was able to afford a better one, because of the opportunities living in Mt Eden had given me.
I live in a one-bedroom apartment in the city now, with my wife. Surprisingly, the location isn’t much better than Mt Eden.
But the house is. It’s modest, one bedroom, one bathroom, a small separate lounge. But it’s warm, dry and serves me and my wife’s needs.
If I’d lived in an apartment like this in Mt Eden, I probably wouldn’t have left.
But there are almost no apartments like this in Mt Eden, or many other central suburbs. Even in the city they’re rare, which is probably why places like this rent for $600 a week. Just under 70% of the individual median income in Auckland, according to the 2023 census.
PC120 will change that. It will increase the supply of apartments in these areas, and split each section’s high land cost across a whole apartment block, making each home cheaper.
The history of many special character areas can’t be denied. They have villas, bungalows and cottages built for ordinary working people.
Special character areas don’t protect that history. They price out the people they were built for and, despite what many people assume, the rules for these areas allow highly visible changes such as adding a storey, extending the back, even demolition.
I’ll admit, I think Auckland’s villas are beautiful. Losing some of them is a real cost. But when only the wealthy can afford to live in that heritage, it’s lost most of what made it worth keeping. PC120 restores the part that mattered: it brings these homes back within reach of the people they were built for.
(If you do want to read more about how allowing intensification in these areas will improve affordability, we recommend Facing Up to Our Future: Challenges and Choices for New Zealand, published by the Helen Clark Foundation. Its chapter on housing does a great job laying out the evidence.)
I’ll be able to afford my own home soon. According to Clark, people like me don’t want to buy within 10km of the CBD. But my wife and I don’t just want to buy here. We can’t imagine going anywhere else.
Neither can thousands of other first home buyers. It’s why they’re arguing for more homes there, through groups such as the Coalition for More Homes.
If you live in a central suburb, I get it. I’ve lived in them as well. I’ve seen what people like about them, I’ve seen their problems first-hand. I think we all agree those problems are serious and something should be done about them.
Keep those suburbs the same and we have no way of solving them. Change things and suddenly we have some tools.
In old neighbourhoods, digging is often the most expensive part of upgrading or adding new water infrastructure. Proportionally, it doesn’t cost much more to provide the pipes for many homes instead of a few – but it makes it much more economical.
Right now, parked cars line old neighbourhoods because their homes don’t have enough parking. Put enough people near train stations and residents might not need those cars at all.
We can push the facts of why intensification should go in the central suburbs all day. And we should. But just as important as all of that is the fact more homes will bring something to those neighbourhoods that they haven’t had for a long time:
Hope.
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