11 Mar 2026

Auckland mayor wants to push ahead with intensification despite mixed reviews

From Checkpoint, 5:36 pm on 11 March 2026

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown wants to push ahead with intensification in inner-city suburbs, whether residents like it or not. Last month, the government agreed to reduce Auckland's minimum housing capacity from roughly two million to 1.6 million. That's still 400,000 more than the 1.2 million under its current Unitary Plan. The council will ask the government to enable more housing density within 10 kilometres of the CBD, to make room for population growth in the coming decades. But Aucklanders' reactions to the decision are mixed. Jessica Hopkins reports.