The Enabling Housing Supply Act

The Act is designed to accelerate housing supply by creating additional areas of medium density homes in Aotearoa’s growing cities. The Act came into law in December 2021 and requires councils of tier 1 urban environments to remove restrictive planning rules so more medium density homes can be built in our busiest cities.

There are two key changes introduced by the Act—the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) and the Intensification Streamlined Planning Process (ISPP).

Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS)

Urban areas across New Zealand have a shortage of affordable housing with many current residential zones only allowing only one dwelling per lot with a maximum of 2 stories. The MDRS is designed to combat this by enabling people to build up to three homes of up to three storeys on each site without needing resource consent.

Intensification Streamlined Planning Process (ISPP)

The second major part of the Act is the ISPP, which is intended to support councils in implementing the MDRS and other aspects of the Act in their districts. Based on the previous SPP systems, the ISPP enables even faster intensification across main urban areas.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that building consent will still be required to construct homes and subdivision consent will still be required to create separate titles once the dwellings are built.

All tier 1 urban environments are required to incorporate the Act into their consent processes; however, tier 2 and tier 3 urban environments have the choice to opt-in. There is also the opportunity for councils to identify areas in their district where these standards are not suitable, such as sites that are subject to natural hazards, cultural significance, or heritage items.

On the South Island tier 1 urban environments required to implement the Act include Christchurch City, Selwyn District and Waimakariri District Councils with the tier 2 urban environments of Nelson Tasman, Queenstown, and Dunedin Councils having the option to opt-in.

The Act came into law in December 2021, however, councils need to provide final notification of the new housing rules and policies for their district plans by 20 August 2022. These new rules will have immediate effect.

If you own a freehold title residential section in a tier 1 urban environment (including the Greater Christchurch area) the Act could apply to your site. It would enable you to develop your site in a medium density residential way, maximising your development potential.

Our multi-disciplinary team can help you understand all the provisions of the new Act and can investigate your site, letting you know if the new standards will apply or not. Our planning, urban design, and structural engineering teams can work with you to provide concept layouts that maximise the potential of your site under the new rules and assist with site surveying for design purposes.

And if your site is not in an area where the MDRS apply, we can investigate and see if there is just cause for your site to be considered for medium density, in which case we can submit to the council on your behalf.

With experienced teams across the board, we can streamline your future applications and development projects.

Get in touch to speak with one of our experts today.