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The Independent Review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities lays bare New Zealand’s housing mess. Decent housing is fundamental to wellbeing. Read more

The New Zealand Initiative has taken advantage of the tumultuous media landscape and branched out this week into news coverage. Your faithful reporter’s first task was covering the approval of the Wellington City District plan by the Minister for RMA Reform. Read more

New Zealand faces significant challenges in managing growth, delivering infrastructure, and improving the well-being of our communities. Our productivity performance has been dismal. Read more

For a few months after last year’s elections, Wellington consultancies seemed to be scrambling to publish reports on city deals. National’s coalition agreement with ACT promised long-term city deals for funding and financing infrastructure but was short on details. Read more

Both the prior Labour government and the current National-led coalition have wanted to deliver more affordable housing. But getting there is like trying to traverse an overgrown forest path. Read more

If you are an Australian struggling to afford a home, I have good news from across the ditch: New Zealand is building its way out of its housing crisis. And the solutions being pioneered here also offer a roadmap for solving Australia’s housing woes. Read more

The way the government tries to protect us against earthquake risks, and to protect heritage buildings against change, share a common problem. Government agencies have a very difficult time generating the information necessary for making good decisions in both cases. Read more

Last week, we applauded Housing Minister Chris Bishop for his housing policy proposals. Incentives for councils to promote growth perfectly match Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s repeated calls for localism. Read more