PRESS RELEASE
ISSUED BY AFFORDABLE AUCKLAND
ANNOUNCEMENT
 
Affordable Auckland Announces Franklin Candidate For Auckland Council
 
Business journalist Niko Kloeten announced today that he will be standing as a candidate for Affordable Auckland in the Franklin ward of Auckland Council.  The twenty-six-year-old Pukekohe resident says he is concerned for the future of Franklin under the Auckland Council, which 90% of people in the area oppose being part of..  
 
"Franklin has traditionally offered an affordable lifestyle but the rising cost of housing in the area is forcing families and young people to look elsewhere.  I left Auckland because it's just too expensive for my young family.  The Auckland Council's 'compact city' model will export those high house prices to towns like Pukekohe," he says.  
 
“Latest figures in the media show house prices in the Auckland region are now seven times household incomes.  When my parents bought their first home the average was only three times incomes.  Young people are paying the price for 'smart growth' urban planning policies, which the Auckland Council is looking to lock in for the next 30 years with its Unitary Plan.
 
"Those who already own their own homes are at risk of big rate hikes in the next few years as the council borrows billions to fund expensive projects such as the city rail link.  This will put particular pressure on pensioners and others on fixed incomes.  People in Franklin are already questioning the benefit of being part of the Auckland Council.  The Super City is anything but super for Franklin."
 
Kloeten says the top-down planning model employed by the council distorts the land market and allows NIMBY (not in my backyard) protesters to block developments that would provide new housing and jobs.  As Auckland debates intensification versus sprawl, he says the real issue is the ability of unelected bureaucrats to dictate what people can do with their own property.  
 
"Discussion about the Unitary Plan has focused on places like Devonport and St Heliers but it has huge implications for Franklin.  Mayor Len Brown says he wants Auckland to be more like Vancouver, which is one of the most expensive cities in the world with house prices almost ten times incomes.  I want Auckland, and Franklin, to be affordable again." 
 
Kloeten says Affordable Auckland is the only party in the Auckland Council race with a coherent policy plan to reduce house prices and give young families the ability to become property owners. This plan includes
 
·         Reduced council rates and borrowing
·         Council spending targeted only at core functions
·         Flexible zoning to give greater choices in land use
·         Abolishing the Metropolitan Urban Limit to increase land supply
·         Minimising resource consent compliance costs and reducing the ability of non-affected persons to object to granting of resource consent
·         Promoting private property rights
 
“All other candidates in Franklin will be promoting central planning as the means to achieve their ends; whether that be intensification or greater urban spread. I will be the only option for those who believe the path to housing affordability is less council interference and greater sovereignty for private property owners.”
 
Ends

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