A key part of Hastings District Council's new Hastings Place Based Housing Plan is increased urban density, to protect fertile land and lower costs by using existing infrastructure. Photo / Supplied
Hastings District Council wants every one of the 1700 people living in motels across the district out, and into stable homes.
But to do it, the council realises it can't rely on central Government - Hastings will need to undergo a big change, particularly in its suburbs.
The city can't realistically spread out further - the fertile soil on its fringes is too valuable for the region. It's hard to build high too, as a result of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.
But what the council can, and has vowed, to do is change the face of its suburbs, encouraging quarter-acre plots to become dense, diverse and visually interesting.
That's the overarching goal of the new Hastings Place Based Housing Plan, a complex and sure-to-be controversial blueprint that aims to take the word 'crisis' out of headlines about the city's housing.
Hastings's inner suburbs alone won't solve the crisis, the council says.
The satellite suburbs of Havelock North and Flaxmere are well on their way to becoming satellite cities in their own right, and each are set to get about 1000 new homes built over the next five to seven years - many in the latter will be of public housing stock.
Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the council had to balance protecting the region's fertile land, which drives the economy, with addressing current housing issues and planning for future growth.
With retail shrinking and parts of the CBD condensing, Hazlehurst wants to see increased urban density and a repurposing of the city for different housing models.
"We know we can't keep sprawling on Greenfields developments.
"We need to think about repurposing suburbs."
Hastings being named the Supreme Winner at the Most Beautiful Towns and Cities awards, run by Keep NZ Beautiful in 2020, was another feather in the cap for the city.
Hazlehurst wants to beautify the city further to help developers create an attractive product people will want to buy.
An emphasis on maintaining the area's heritage characteristics and growing green spaces around the CBD would be "incentivising inner-city living".
The housing plan was also about looking at how people want to live in future and creating affordable homes, currently out of reach for many young families and professionals.
"Across the board, there's not enough homes for our young professionals.
"Our children's generation don't want to be in the garden over the weekend. They want to be at the beach or out on the cycle path.
"The idea of the quarter-acre section for our next generation, they say 'no thanks, I've got too much to do'."
Increased urban density also helped reduce development costs as the infrastructure was there, she said.
"The infrastructure is in the city now. Yes, we can upgrade it, maintain it and improve it, but it's already there."
Hastings District Council chief executive Nigel Bickle said the council had done the work to "ride the infrastructure wave really early".
"We've invested heavily in our infrastructure," he said.
Both were also keenly aware of the district's most vulnerable being pushed out of the community.
As of September last year, more than 637 people were on the housing register waiting for homes in Hastings - almost 70 per cent of them were Māori.
There is increased pressure on the already struggling housing market, from the tourism sector, and from the need to house RSE workers - the council has already changed by-laws to allow for temporary accommodation on orchards.
"We've also had the issue of Kainga Ora not building fast enough."
Many homes being built were replacing existing Kainga Ora stock, whereas the council's strategy aims to see new homes built and delivered in meaningful ways for the community, she said.
"If we just replace like with like we're not going to empower our people to have a house they aspire to own or beautiful tree-lined escapes.
"We don't want more asphalt. We want something better for Hastings and our whānau."
One word repeatedly emphasised in the launch of the policy was 'partnership' - partnerships with central government, developers, community leaders and iwi representatives.
Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana said he was pleased to be working with the council on 'Kāinga paneke, kāinga pānuku', which translates to 'a move from temporary to permanent housing'.
"We have the whenua, we have the support of council policies, we have the support of government agencies," he said.
"We believe we have the recipe for success."
Tomoana said he supported the council's focus on increased urban density, saying it would offer kaumātua easier access to essential services and provide more housing opportunities.
Tomoana was also supportive of central government and a strong advocate of the Te Puni Kōkiri housing model, which would provide further funding support for papakāinga housing in areas such as Waipatu, Waimārama, Te Hauke, Waiohiki and Bridge Pa.
Coupled with other development projects around the region, the council expects to see about 1000 new homes built in Havelock North across Iona and Arataki, and about as many in Flaxmere.
A council housing development in Tarbet Street, Flaxmere, is already nearly complete, with more than half the sections sold or under offer.
Seventeen sections will go to first-home buyers where the buyers must live in the home they build for at least five years – which makes them unavailable to developers - and building must start within 12 months the purchase.
The homes must have at least three bedrooms, have an attached garage, have a colour-steel roof and aluminium joinery, and paths and driveways must be paved.
This is in keeping with the style and standard of the new homes being built by Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga across the road in Waingākau Village - a mix of co-housing and conventional housing built on former council land.
The council is also exploring options for other land it owns in Flaxmere, including in the town centre behind the shops, which has so far proved controversial with residents who say Flaxmere needs the land for commercial expansion.
Hazlehurst has assured residents this land won't be all public housing.
"We understand the community's concerns and want to reassure them that while housing is desperately needed throughout the district, the council is committed to no more than 20 per cent of any comprehensive housing development in Flaxmere being public housing.
"We also heard loud and clear that the community wants a new supermarket, café and more quality retail in the town centre.
"Looking to the future of Flaxmere, we have a real opportunity through council-owned land to make a real difference, and it's fantastic that the community is so engaged and telling us what they want to see."
She said proceeds from the sale of council land in the suburb would go back into improving Flaxmere.
There are several people and serious injuries involved, police say.