Generations clash at ‘fractious’ community meeting

Friday, 29 August 2025

Frustrated murmurs turned to shouting as a crowd of 250 packed out Auckland’s Mt Eden Methodist Church to discuss the future of housing in the supercity.

At stake, say established residents and local elected reps, is the “soul” of Auckland as the Government moves to allow developers to demolish character suburbs in favour of high rise housing.

For some it’s a destruction of capital value, but to others it provides a glimpse at affordable ownership in a city forcing young homemowners to the rural fringes to grasp at the housing ladder.

The debate is now coming to a head at break-neck speed with the council being forced to make a decision on where to allocate two million new homes by the end of September.

“Right now the council has a gun to its head,” said Orakei Local Board member Troy Churton, calling the Government a “Putin-esque authoritarian regime”.

He told the crowd they had two weeks to “saturate [Housing Minister] Chris Bishop’s office with emails”.

A member of the crowd took the microphone, saying “hands up - who loves Auckland and is a proud NIMBY?

Another said she had already experienced the impacts of intensification after a next-door property was developed into apartments.

“It was hideous for us. There were nails and crap on the roads and three people got punctures, and we had asbestos in the air. I nearly had a stroke.”

Said another: “We are pussy-footing around Bishop like we are pussy-footing around Trump, and he needs to be told how ridiculous his decrees are.”

In defence of the Government, Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith said talk of Putin and guns was “ridiculous” and the housing plans were about “giving the next generation a shot”.

Reuben, a 24-year-old stood up and told the meeting that as a planning student living in a mouldy home in Mt Eden, he didn’t feel that it was worth preserving.

“Heritage is subjective; before that, it was a bush, and now its a mouldy house.

“I don’t want to have live up past Drury to afford my own home, because there’s nothing to do there … I might as well live in Huntly.”

Speaking to Churton, the young man said: “You know what feels like having a gun to your head? It’s a generation that refuses to bow down because of its property values.”

Churton responded: “The generation argument is bullshit … how about some generational values?”

“Go f… yourself,” Reuben called back.

In need of a “reality check”

The meeting follows the release of maps showing areas proposed for “upzoning” that would see 15-storey apartment buildings in much of Kingsland and Mt Eden and 10-storey buildings across Mt Albert.

Anywhere within an 800 metre “walkable catchment” near a train station would be fair game for developers, shown on the maps in orange.

The brief history; Plan Change 78 was introduced to implement the Labour Government’s mandated “medium density standards” which would allow three houses of three storeys per section by right in most of Auckland.

It was put on hold after the Auckland Anniversary Weekend Floods, when it was recognised that some parts of the city should not be built up, but it’s always been maintained by Bishop that the council must zone for an equivalent of 30 years of growth.

With the Government’s deadline due, council staff told the meeting that every ratepayer would be written to by the end of October and given the chance to submit on a new plan but, due to time constraints, the normal hearing process before independent commissioners was unlikely to happen.

Albert-Eden councillor Christine Fletcher said she didn’t believe most Aucklanders realised just how much it was going to transform the city.

“There will be financial repercussions like I’ve never seen before.”

She claimed the added capacity in her ward alone would require $23 billion in infrastructure spend including 56 more primary schools, 20 new hospitals, 176 more pumping stations.

“Bishop’s plan needs a reality check,” she said. “It’s a bit like a soap opera - if it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny.”

Albert-Eden Local Board chair Kendyl Smith said longstanding locals deserved more than a “tick box” consultation exercise.

“These are not just nice old homes, they give our suburbs an identity … to sweep that away with zoning removes Auckland’s soul.

“And it’s being done by people in Wellington who don’t understand what we value.

“This isn’t about saying no to change, it’s about saying yes to the right kind of change - ambitious not reckless.”

ACT’s David Seymour was not present at the meeting but sent a statement to be read out saying that the plan was “not necessary” and would have “unintended consequences”.

But, Mt Albert Labour MP Helen White warned she couldn’t fully support residents’ opposition.

“Unfortunately we need to be asking the gnarly questions. There’s a serious correlation between homelessness and housing unaffordability.”

White said her own daughter was moving to Sydney because of a perceived lack of opportunity locally.

“It’s not just about shoeboxes, it’s about decent places for people to live.”

When Goldsmith had his turn on the microphone he suggested it was the council that was driving the speed of change, because it wanted to be able to prevent building in floodzones.

He said if PC78 was withdrawn, there would be a discussion with minister Bishop about how to move forward - “and that’s a negotiation”.

“It’s not two weeks or four weeks, it may be two years of consultation,” he said. “There will be many many meetings like this as time goes on.”

Churton accused him of mischaracterising the situation and challenged Goldsmith to “put it in writing and publish it tomorrow”.

As the crowd began to shout him down, Goldsmith said he would be taking “concerns around the timeline” back to Bishop.

“I am getting the message strongly, and we have a cabinet, and it’s not just made up of Bishop - half of us live in Auckland.”