Hawke's Bay housing crisis: Amid the spotlight, progress

Jays Boyd was being fined for living in his car in Napier. Photo / Warren Buckland

Over the past few weeks we've highlighted the stark reality of Hawke's Bay's housing crisis.

440 kids living in motels in the region because their parents can't find a place to rent. 250 state houses gone from Hastings in 10 years. Even 38 families homeless in Central Hawke's Bay.

We shone the light because we had heard the stories of Jays Boyd, the man being fined for living in his car in Napier, and Laura Hartley, the mum who lives with her kids in a motel, and hears through the wall the sounds of so many other kids in the same situation.

These brave people put a human face to what is one of Hawke's Bay's biggest problems.

And it seems like it's had an impact.

Tukituki MP Lawrence Yule woke from his near 20-year slumber and realised what was happening in his city of Hastings was "an NZ tragedy".

Ngati Kahungunu came in with a bit of bluster, but much needed bravado, and promised to try to build 500 new homes in the next four years.

Orchard owners highlighted the difficulties of housing RSE workers, and as a result Hastings District Council changed its rules to allow self-catering clusters on orchard sites, camp-style accommodation to be built in a central area, and accommodation to be built in the industrial zones of Omahu and Irongate, and other light industrial zones.

In Napier, moves have been made, mostly from a central Government level after advocacy from councillors.

Fifty-three homes are to be built by the end of the year by Housing NZ.

And now there's more good news.

For the first time in three years the number of people waiting for a state house in the region has dropped.

It went from 661 in December 2018 to 629 in March 2019.

If this number continues to drop over the next year, even as Hawke's Bay's economy booms, it will be a triumph for the region's many advocates who saw the housing need and acted on it.

But it's far too early to celebrate.

Winter has all-but arrived, rents continue to rise across the region and for those without their own roof over their head, it will be hard.