Housing Boost: New Act Fuels Flexible Growth
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Infrastructure Simon Court has today announced decisions to reform the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act (IFFA) to help growth pay for growth in a way that is more responsive to demand.
“The IFFA’s primary focus is to facilitate the delivery of infrastructure for housing in a responsive way. Providing for this ‘demand-led’ growth is a key part of Minister Bishop’s ‘Going for Housing Growth’ programme.
“The IFFA involves the establishment of a ‘special purpose vehicle’ to finance the infrastructure needed to enable development, which is repaid by levying the properties which benefit – all off councils’ balance sheets. This reduces reliance on ratepayers to cross-subsidise growth infrastructure, facilitating growth that is more commercially viable.
“It was born out of a market innovation success story, where a developer established a pathway to build the infrastructure needed for the Milldale development without having to contend with council infrastructure funding and debt constraints.
“Yet, while it was intended to codify this approach to replicate this success, the IFFA has fallen short of delivering additional infrastructure needed to respond to growth.
“We’re aware of limitations and unnecessary, bureaucratic hurdles that add cost and inhibit its potential to deliver, which is why we’ve committed to a range of changes.”
Key changes include:
Expanding uptake and use cases
Streamlining levy development and approval
Other changes to increase certainty and confidence
“These changes will deliver a more usable pathway that can be accessed by developers and others to deliver infrastructure that may not have been planned for by councils.
“Together with the other infrastructure levers announced today, and the wider programme of change through Going for Housing Growth, these changes will contribute to a more balanced system that accommodates flexible, demand-led growth.”
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/going-housing-growth-infrastructure-funding-and-financing-act-changes-enable-flexible