The Prime Minister has repeated warnings that the Government will act if Auckland Council does not change its planning processes to make it easier to build affordable homes in the city.
In a state of the nation speech in Auckland on Friday, John Key said until planning obstacles are dealt with, there is no hope of building more affordable housing.
Following the speech at the North Harbour Club, Mr Key told reporters that one of the Government's main objectives this year was to speed up planning processes.
He said it is ridiculous that developers can wait years for approval for new housing developments and it is possible to build cheaper houses.
"We can actually produce a cookie cutter type house that could theoretically go on the site quite quickly and really speed up that process.
"But we can't have years and years of waiting time for someone to be able to subdivide or for a few houses to be taken down to be able to allow a brownfield development to take place."
John Key said he expects to see progress by the end of this year to make it easier for affordable homes to be built.
