The Government has started looking for someone to head up its interim Kiwibuild Unit that will be charged with kicking off its ambitious plan to build 100,000 new homes over the next 10 years.
According to an advertisement by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the position will have a fixed term of two years because the new Kiwibuld Unit is being set up as an interim unit within MBIE, after which its functions will be taken over by the new Housing Commission the government is also setting up.
The Housing Commission will have much broader responsibilities and powers than the interim Kiwibuild Unit.
One of the main functions of the Kiwibuild Unit appears to be to buy land suitable for the development of affordable housing, ahead of the formation of the Housing Commission.
"Commercially savvy, you will be a seasoned professional who has a deep appreciation of the commercial (particularly, housing and land development) environment," MBIE's advertisement says.
Applicants should also have "sound financial and business management experience," the advertisement says.
You can read the advertisement and job description here.
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53 Comments
I wonder if there'll be any performance measures. You know, like if you can't get 10,000 houses built by the end of year 2 you're out.
Perhaps it will be more like "Oh, only 3746 houses were built in the last year? We'll put a brave face on it. You'll be going to spend more time with your family or some such. Oh and here's a large sum of money."
Be warned, if Chuck Norris applies, it may be a non-DE-plume.
I was gonna apply but thought better of it. I think small houses are the answer...but our build costs are outrageous.
Answering to any Government Department, any politician, 'No Thanks'
They only think big and know how to spend up large.
Plus arguing with the Councils for Planning Permission....could not afford the fees...anyway...unless giving away freebees.
Plus who would want to live in a sensible sized house or appartments for that matter....we only think big...and luv Mcmansions in NZ.
There are plenty of people that prefer a smaller footprint and less maintenance costs that come along with smaller houses. I personally love smaller homes that cost a fraction of the price to install all the latest mod cons and love the lock up and leave idea. I don't want the expense of having to pay for a new roof on a massive house at tommorrows inflated prices when I end up on a fixed income! Bring on the small low maintenance houses with next to zero maintenance!
They have a few problems: the 100,000 target won't be achieved, they need a developer who will be in a position that they don't need a job, and who would want to work for MBIE? MBIE get everything wrong with respect to regulations so if the person they hire makes a genuine attempt to hit the target they will be interfered with by career government employees trying to cover their ass.
Anyone who thinks the target can be hit with houses is living in a dream world.
I could manage to get 100,000 dwellings with houses, townhouses and apartments built in that time frame. Provided I didn't need to deal with any of the Councils or MBIE. There is tremendous resistance to getting anything done within central and local Government.
There is a separate issue of resourcing. The construction industry locally is running red-hot which creates capacity issues.
Agree, it can be done.
Some out of the box thinking is needed. Allocate suitable land - good planning for the earthworks and infrastructure development - build all the houses via production line in a factory environment and transport completed houses to site. Build the factory to make 80 houses a day and you'll reach the target early
Dictator is correct.
They won’t get within a bulls roar of 100,000 in 10 years as they will not be in Government in 3 years time.
Why do they need to advertise for such a position when they should be able to accommodate it within in their own ranks as they have said it is achievable.
They know that it is Not feasible to get enough land in Auckland to build thousands of houses within close proximatey to Auckland without the transport issues.
They state 600k to be affordable and I am wondering if they do build these box’s whether there will be much uptake for them, as there would be bugger all capital gain on terraced box’s I can tell you!
They won’t get within a bulls roar of 100,000 in 10 years as they will not be in Government in 3 years time.
One thing - do you think National will run in 2020 on dismantling all house-building initiatives undertaken?
Wonder how this will play in the prevailing zeitgeist.
Don't give them Ideas! Labour believe they know best and that all power and wealth belongs to them by right. The last Labour lot pushed lots of expense and responsibility onto the local councils on the basis that they could raise the rates on those rich pricks in business with big houses....
At least I spoke out against the Building Act changes, of course Labour didn't want to listen. Labour also had the majority in the select committee so they didn't care and the MPs lacked the intellect to understand what they were doing wrong.
You shouldn't forget that National aren't blameless either as it was triggered by them raising leaky building syndrome, then they didn't do anything to reverse the problems when they got into power. National had 9 years to correct the issues but between Maurice Williamson and Nick Smith they just swept everything under the rug.
When you give the portfolio of building and construction to two MPs with no motivation to take their duties seriously or take action to fix the problems you do not get results. In fact it just got worse with Maurice Williamson's bumbling, and Nick Smith just covering everything up.
Just reading how the Unitary Plan has been a dud. You may be right. Unless they increase the possible density to a level where developers can make a profit there’s going to be an even bigger shortfall than expected. It will be like Groundhog Day if we have to go back through this fight again. Will central or local government risk the wrath of the voters?
Love to be a fly on the wall of a certain job interview.
"No, we haven't actually released any cheap land, that's the job of council really, and yes, building is regulated out the wazu, so it can be quite expensive to build anything in NZ. But we'd love you to come on board to our 100,000+ new affordable homes program."
"Look, before you decide, Sir Humphrey here has a few, er, um, what we call 'guidelines', you might want to look at."
(a) It takes longer to do things quickly.
(b) It's more expensive to do them cheaply.
(c) It's more democratic to do them in secret.
"And when, oops, I mean *if*, heh heh heh, *IF* things go pear shaped I think we've got you covered from a few angles:"
1. There is a perfectly satisfactory explanation for everything, but security forbids its disclosure.
2. It has only gone wrong because of heavy cuts in staff and budget which have stretched supervisory resources beyond the limits.
3. It was a worthwhile experiment, now abandoned, but not before it had provided much valuable data and considerable employment.
4. It occurred before certain important facts were known, and couldn’t happen again.
5. It was an unfortunate lapse by an individual, which has now been dealt with under internal disciplinary procedures.
"What do you say?"
1. Use Public Works Act to acquire golf courses. Waste of prime locations and mostly enjoyed by people whom are part of the problem.
2. With the current red tape is difficult to get anywhere. Amend the building code to accept some overseas standards. Revoke over the top safety regulations. Reduce the scope of council consents. For god's sake remove the tariff on non-GIB plasterboard.
3. Frankly, kiwis are crap at building anything. So hire some experts from overseas who're experienced in modern factory methods. Get them to design warm and cheap houses to and setup the factories. Bulk purchase products from the likes of Knauf or PlyGem.
^^^ this^^^
Seriously, building costs in NZ are a rort. I have been seriously costing a build/major renovation. Have access to some trade discounts in NZ etc. However, I can still manage to buy the exact, identical products considerably cheaper in Europe, including shipping them here. I'd have minimal economies of scale because I would just need one boiler, so without doubt, big projects could get prices down even more. That's even without BRANZ drama and just going with what is already permissible. There should be riots on the streets. Something is very wrong.
..I don't know much about building, but these cant be any worse than many of the prefab dog boxes we build here?
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/wooden-house-bungalow-log-cabin-…
Looks a lot better than the expensive crap being foisted on us. If we're going to be forced to settle for wonky leaky crap houses like the garbage McMansionlettes that have been the only new build option for a few years, let's at least go for appropriately cheap wonky leaky crap houses that can be easily replaced when consumed by mold or shunted in earthquakes.
New Zealand's so geologically active that we're deluding ourselves if we think any building has permanence. Let's admit it to ourselves and go for cheap and easily replaceable. Lots of nice good-quality prefabs being made in Europe and elsewhere that would be perfectly suitable if only we could shut down the cartels.
We could, we used to.
One of the first things I did was to help my Builder Father-in-law put up a 3 bedroom Prefabricated Modulock home up on Mt Pirongia.
All he needed was some muscle, as he had built them before and owned the Franchise locally. I was cheap Labour. ( See there is a point to all this...you cheap-scapes).
(I did it for free). (And no....I did not have any skills in building...but I did know how to follow orders).
I knew nothing about building, but it was a simple operation for a simple mind like mine to do. and help with.
Lockwoods were the same....but they were too up market....but if mass produced the principal is the same..
Cheap comfortable housing, from one bedroom up wards, easily extendible, as needs must.
My Father-in-law had also designed a simple first home, with all the bare essentials needed..2 beddie, small footprint, could have been used for the 100's of thousands we are short of...but...as per usual, people build for re-sale to the next mug, so a McMansion is deemed more appropriate...now.
He could design and build anything...and we did....until he retired.
The small simple plan could have been used for multi-layered apartments, or one offs it was compact, yet made best use of space due to Design. (Not huge, but perfectly adequate for "Need"....
We could easily move people out of Cars, Garages and other stop gaps.....but as per usual...the thing that stops us in our tracks, is if Houses, (Actually called Homes, in my day), fell in price, we would upset too many people on this site....as that is all they can bleat on about.
A worth to some, is an essential to others......as that is all they think...business in NZ is built...on....and on...and on....about ad.infinitum.....
OH well...nuff said...he is 94 now and in 24hour care...paying 1500 bucks a week to do so.
And the rental-mental layabouts do not care about 'care" for others...they only think about screwing em for profit.
Sick little world...ain't it.
But it could reverse....quite easily....to mean....summat else. I only hope Labour means it...........
I helped my dad build a second-story extension on the house when I was 14. Nothing prefabbed, but bringing in a load of 2x4 timber and measuring and cutting all the noggs, dwangs and bracing on-site and nailing it together with claw hammers. Put on the corrugated iron roof and all.
That it is made of solid pine is good but surely there is an error in the material thicknesses.
They say millimeters....
If they are correct it is a chicken coop or dog box.
They clearly say timber so you will provide sanitation and electrification.
However, proof is in the doing and I hope someone will buy one, put it on a trailer and take down to the city council for comment.
These BRANZ and MBIE people are useless. They have no understanding of thermal bridging or air tightness.
> There should be riots on the streets.
It's difficult for people to get angry when they're constantly in a cycle of work, sleep, eat, consume trashy media repeat.
Gingerninja - have friends who did exactly that. A few hiccups though. They brought in several aircon and central heating systems from Europe too with the idea to defray their costs further by selling them here. Local tradesmen however wouldn’t touch them as had seemingly no concept of installation and didn’t want to get in a jam if they got it wrong. Also despite having superior quality assurance and regulatory certifications to anything here local authority sign off/consents could not be obtained either. Apparently installing them could have led to a shift in the earths axis and temporal distortion, apocalyptic solar flares and basically the end of the world as we know it.
At the risk of being censored I nominate Alan Johnson, Philippa Howden - Chapman and Shamubeel Eaqub the authors of "housing stock take". Clearly the government think they know something about housing. Two of them are even landlords in their own name or at least they own multiple properties the web tells me.
Bring it on. ps I actually made a bit of money out of a previous failed Labour government initiative to buy up land for the same purpose. It sat empty for years and I managed to sell the houses built by my builder client on some of the sections.
What chance has some poor dud based in Wellington got of achieving anything in Auckland. Everyone in Auckland knows they are on a different planet to the rest of the country. The unit needs to be based in Auckland where the work is.
Rightly so we are skeptical however with a large public purse and right people to lay the groundwork I would think alot can be accomplished. To my way of thinking the biggest hurdles will be the usual suspects that can be overcome by a blitzkrieg approach which Labour can almost only achieve through sheer political will. Already they appear to be appointing the agencies through which ultimately public policy outcomes can be implemented rather than spending countless resource trying to reform. By simply having a very precise target, as long as they don’t deviate, the necessary changes to ensure supply and delivery can be effected in a somewhat steamroller approach. Once there is critical mass the thing will start to drive itself. Personally I think only Labour has the opportunity to do this both as the context in which it can occur has no parallel and their mandate is really based more on ‘we are damned if we don’t rather than damned if we do’ hence let’s just do this and remain unshakeably focused to that end no matter what the more intermediate view and immediate consequences at the electorate level. It’ll be an interesting case study over the coming years of pragmatism and expediency for sure.
What a legacy that would be for this Government. I don’t play golf or visit Cornwall Park so I don’t have a dog in this fight but it would be a great discussion point next time I meet any champagne socialists. I could play Joni Mitchell.
They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And they put up a parking lot
Its a very old song for very old people.
I suspect the battle was lost when Muldoon insisted on building the southern motorway.
Now Auckland stretches from Pukekohe to Warkworth, soon Wellsford and not many have played golf or visited Cornwall Park.
Including me, I despise councils who handed over public spaces to their mates for golf, and there are plenty.
Recreation you may say, but not for those that have to dodge the golfballs.
Cornwall Park was gifted by Logan Campbell over 100 years ago. Not even Taxinda and Twyford are stupid enough to try build houses on it. I’d love to see them try though. As for golf courses, why not sports parks, reserves and bowling greens as well? They are are in some prime spots. I’d love my children to have a house on Vellenoweth Green, the Domain or the Kohimarama bowling green.
I havent seen Central Park, I understand it was a slum that was conveniently cleared of riffraff.
i would have thought the Auckland Domain would be the equivalent, not as grand I admit.
The councillors can just write a long list of green spaces and put redlines through some, a simple process.
As a guide the poulation of new york is 8.5 million people, area of central park, one square mile.
Most New Zealanders have their back yards, as did the terrace homes of London.
Public recreation spaces could be centered around the high rises, seems logical.
Perhaps Auckland could run a referendum on public spaces to guide the councillors.
I recognise many spaces are held by the Tangata Whenua and I respect that.
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