Articles by Matthew Gilligan.
In 2024, GRA formed a not-for-profit property advocacy group, Subdivision Advocacy NZ (SANZ), with Kirsty Merriman (developer) and Simon Oconner (town planner). We formed this in reaction to some astonishingly concerning behaviours from Auckland Council, Vector, Veolia and Watercare. The most well-known include the surprise red-zoning of land due to no water capacity and the high proposed development contribution (DC) increases by Auckland Council.
For example, Auckland Council proposed increasing DCs for one area in Auckland (Tamaki) from $31,000 to $119,000 + GST for a 100m2 house. The cost of the “affordable house” doubled with the proposed DC, and would have cancelled all such development as non-viable, due to the proposed tax grab. (How can you increase the cost of development above the market value of the finished product? Stupid behaviour from Auckland Council.) Watercare were doing similar things.
Outrage ensued from developers, and we quickly garnished the backing of over 1200 developers and concerned professionals in forming SANZ.
We reviewed Auckland Council’s spreadsheets and policy advice, and thought that the Auckland Council members proposing this were misleading, negligent and simply wrong. Our legal advice from a King’s Counsel and planning and policy advice from Urban Economics supported our opinion. After careful reflection, we decided to sue Auckland Council for judicial review if they did not resile from their proposals. Our alleged concerns included false numbers (on multi-billion-dollar budgets they were inflating costs but not inflating revenue over 30-year timeframes, among other gaffs), flawed assumptions, and negligence in the way they constructed their forecasts.
Our challenge to Auckland Council along with others concerned in the community and media focus on the issue, caused a backflip on proposals.
The result was a significant reduction in the charges Council were planning – charges that if they had been implemented would have effectively killed affordable housing in many Auckland areas.
You can read more detail about how we achieved this here.
That victory proved something important: you don't have to accept monopoly pricing.
We are now constructively consulting with Auckland Council and others, and making a contribution to Auckland development, as we represent the community interest with this organisation. Bear in mind that the end purchaser pays for cost increases, so we are helping not only the development community, but homeowners who pay the price of local government inefficiency and overcharging in the end value of the assets they buy.
SANZ is also taking on other infrastructure monopolies that have been charging what they like without adequate scrutiny, or causing problems and delays.
• Vector: Legal action underway
• Veolia and Watercare: Active challenges to pricing practices that unfairly burden developers and homebuyers
We've been approached by both Mayor Wayne Brown and Housing Minister Chris Bishop for consultation – clear recognition that our work is making a difference at both local and central government levels. We commend them for caring enough to reach out and engage constructively, and invite other parties we are challenging to work cooperatively with us.
Development contributions, water connection fees, and electricity infrastructure charges all get passed on to homebuyers. When infrastructure providers operate without scrutiny, costs spiral out of control and housing becomes unaffordable for ordinary Aucklanders. Additionally, if houses become unprofitable to build, developers stop building, which in turn affects supply. It’s lose-lose for everyone.
SANZ is proving that monopolies can be challenged, and that organised community advocacy backed by solid evidence and expert advice can win real results.
If you're a developer, investor, housing provider, or an Aucklander concerned about housing affordability, you can follow what we are doing, and lodge a complaint if you’ve been affected, at www.sanz.nz.
SANZ is a not-for-profit organisation, and we don’t charge for our time. However, engaging professionals (like a King’s Counsel and economists) costs money. If you’d like to contribute to the cause, you can make a donation to the SANZ bank account:
• Account name: Subdivision Advocacy NZ Limited
• Account number: 12-3237-0042990-00
By working together, we can continue to create positive change.
Property School confirmed our current thinking, and gave us new ideas and access to a big team that could help us do those ideas. - M Lovelock, October 2018
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