Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, October 7:
Infrastructure and Housing Minister Chris Bishop has unveiled ambitious and radical tools to ramp up private housing and infrastructure building, but the Government finance hand brake that stalled construction momentum in early 2024 remains firmly on.
In scoop of the day, Jack Tame factchecks Nicole McKee’s claims, leading to fresh calls for her to resign.
In the deep-dive of the day, Philippa Howden Chapman says the Government’s new underwrite of private housing developers follows the removal of Kainga Ora’s underwrite of the same developers.
In solutions news, Singapore closes its racecourse to build housing.
In quote of the day, Chris Bishop says going for growth is paramount.
In charts of the day, the withdrawal of underwrites of new housing by Kāinga Ora and the freezing of new school building stopped the construction sector in its tracks, triggering the loss of thousands of construction jobs.
(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in the podcast above for paying subscribers. If we get over 100 likes we’ll open it up for public reading, listening and sharing.)
1. Govt jumps on accelerator, but hand brake still on
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