Housing availability and affordability
Please note that this information was provided for the 2022 Local Government Elections and may now be out of date.
Our District is growing. According to a 2022 Housing and Business Assessment we need an additional 5,000 residential units across our three urban centres by 2048. With an increasing demand for housing, the house prices in our district has increased from around $475,000 in 2018 to more than $720,000 in 2022, while the median household income has remained stable. The ratio between household income and house prices is used to determine the housing affordability. For our district, the 2022 housing affordability index is 7.2, compared to 5.2 prior to the pandemic. An affordable home is equal to or less than 3x the household income.Anything higher than 5.1 is deemed Severely Unaffordable.
What we currently do
- We own 108 Elderly Person's Housing (EPH) Units. These units provide residents with privacy and independence, with the knowledge that they are near people of their own age and have a secure, affordable home. Our EPH units have an average occupancy of more than 95%, only vacant for short periods between tenants when we undertake any maintenance and renewal work required.
- Zoning of residential and future residential land to enable private development of housing - We do a rolling review of our District Plan to ensure we our zoning and rules remain appropriate and relevant. You can read more about our most recent Plan Changes on our Plan Your Town page.
- Providing infrastructure for residentially zoned land – you can read more about how we're planning to do this in our Infrastructure Strategy
- Completed Housing And Business Assessment – read the report here. It is expected that this Assessment will form the basis for future plan changes as our District cotinues to grow.
What's on the horizon?
Challenges
For our elderly persons housing (EPH) Council currently only act as a landlord. The majority of our units are single bedrooms, and many of our tenants live by themselves. One of the challenges of getting older is often loneliness. Many of our tenants could benefit from a more wrap around service, to have some sort of
Council is responsible for providing sufficiently zoned land and the supporting infrastructure to enable housing development. The current growth rate is higher than expected, and Council is currently reviewing the timing of some of its projects to ensure
Along with the requirement to provide land for housing, Council is also responsible for protecting the high quality soils found in our district, which supports ecosystems and food production for our community.
Opportunities
The national housing crisis has seen increased opportunities for forming partnerships with Kainga Ora, iwi, NGOs, philanthropic organisations as well as private developers to ensure adequate supply of affordable housing for our communities. There are numerous mixed models used elsewhere around the country, that can be explored for our communities as well.
First of its kind, Council is currently working on two Plan Changes to our District Plan in collaboration with our iwi partners. The Papakainga plan change, which aims to better enable papakainga development on maori land, is supported by an iwi working group. The Waharoa Plan Change is a joint Plan Change with Ngati Haua, local iwi of Waharoa. This Plan Change seeks to improve economic opportunities as well as housing in and around Waharoa township.
As the RMA reform progresses (it is anticipated that the new Natural and Built Environment Act and the Spatial Planning Act will be enacted by mid 2023), we have a unique opportunity to get the planning done now prior to the regional spatial plan. By doing the work now, we can ensure that the local voice of our communities is represented, and that the recommendations from the Housing and Business Assessments are progressed ahead of any new requirements of the Regional Spatial Plan.
Questions to consider
- What is Council’s role in ensuring our communities are well housed?
- How can Council support better housing outcomes for our communities?
