Housing shortfall, costs and affordability

[plam]

Incidentally, Wellington (NZ) just approved a new zoning plan which permits more much density. The interesting thing was that there was an independent panel which was super NIMBY and it got shot down by council. The amended plan now goes to the minister.

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/15-03-...ns-the-war

That's great news for Wellington! They have something similar to our PARTS, not quite as much density but much simpler and a bigger area around each station:

The second huge win is for the northern suburbs. By defining the Johnsonville rail line as “rapid transit”, the council has enabled thousands of new homes to be built along the train line. Anything within a walking catchment of a rapid transit station must automatically be zoned for six-storey apartments. A successful amendment by Nīkau Wi Neera took it even further, expanding the rapid transit walking catchment from five minutes to 10 minutes. Multiplied across nine train stations on the Johnsonville and Kāpiti lines, this adds up to enormous potential for new housing.

Yeah, it is probably the most progressive zoning we've seen in New Zealand; Auckland upzoned a few years ago but not quite as much. Johnsonville is a small train but it is a train, which is always more than a bus. The independent panel tried to say "well, we have data about how people get to work [walking] but not about how they get back". It is true that walking back often involves significant uphill climb, but it's also unlikely that a car materializes at the bottom of the hill. Scooters and buses do.