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The central Government has a local government problem. Rates have been rising too fast, regional councils are seen as inefficient and unaccountable, and the public wants action. Read more
New Zealand has been trying to fix its resource management system for the better part of three decades. The Resource Management Act has been amended virtually every year since 1991 and reviewed several times during that period. Read more
New Zealanders once took pride in being a resilient “do-it-yourself” (DIY) people. Working city fathers, like mine, would spend much of their weekends working on their houses, gardens, fruit trees or sheds. Read more
Right now, Auckland Council’s zoning allows people to build about a million shops selling tasty pies. Tomorrow, someone could buy or lease a commercially-zoned site near you and turn it into a shop selling pies. Read more
Last week's headlines suggested another wobble in housing reform. Signals from the Prime Minister about easing Auckland's intensification settings appeared to undercut Housing Minister Chris Bishop. Read more
This concluding episode examines what it takes for housing reform to endure. Minister Chris Bishop reflects on his journey to Competitive Urban Land Markets (CLM) and why housing affordability is best understood as a problem of land supply. Read more
In this episode, Eric, Nick and Benno talk about the Government's proposal to abolish regional councillors while retaining regional councils, shifting governance to new Combined Territories Boards made up of local mayors. They explore how this reform creates space for mayors to rethink regional governance through a function-by-function approach, potentially establishing purpose-built agencies for issues like water catchments and transport that cross council boundaries. Read more
The opening episode traces the intellectual and personal journey that gave birth to the idea of "Competitive Urban Land Markets" (CLM). It follows Chris Parker’s path from his early attempt at NZIER to broaden traditional cost–benefit models so they could capture the transformative effects of infrastructure investment, to his move into Auckland Council as Chief Economist, where he began to see high land prices not as signs of prosperity but as symptoms of monopoly and institutional failure. Read more
Kerre Woodham discussed our report "Owning Less to Achieve More" on Newstalk ZB, which advocates for housing vouchers instead of state-owned housing. Woodham endorsed the report's findings that government housing vouchers would empower vulnerable tenants by giving them choice in landlords, whilst highlighting the report's criticism of Kāinga Ora's high maintenance costs and inefficient management. Read more
Wellington (Thursday, 16 October 2025) - Why does the government need to continue owning or managing more than 77,000 housing units, given its poor track record in this area, especially when state assistance can be provided without extensive government ownership? And why does it not release more land for housing? Read more