Whangārei District Council is calling for more Government action to address the district's housing crisis. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Whangārei District Council is calling for more Government action to address the district's housing crisis. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Whangārei District Council is calling for beefed-up Government action to address the district's worsening housing crisis.
"Whangārei District Council requests greater support and focus from central government to ensure housing meets the needs of our communities," Sheryl Mai, Whangārei Mayor said.
"We are seeing increasing unaffordability for first-home buyers and growing concern from the community housing sector on the ability to meet the need for housing. Alone, WDC cannot fully address these housing issues," Mai said.
Mai made her request in a letter to Minister of Housing Megan Woods, highlighting this to the last WDC meeting of the year, where housing was a major and sometimes heated discussion topic.
WDC has identified housing as one of its top priorities.
"Support and partnership between WDC and central government is essential if we are to further address the housing issues of our district."
Ratepayers fund district council housing provision, while taxpayers fund central government efforts in the sector.
Mai said Whangārei had experienced significant increases in house prices and weekly rents over the past decade. Its average house sale price increases had outstripped national figures over winter and early spring this year.
"This has created an increasingly severe housing affordability issue for our communities ... the affordability of weekly rents and house prices in Whangārei is similar to those seen in Christchurch, Hamilton and Tauranga," Mai said.
Mayor Sheryl Mai is asking central government to help. Photo / Tania Whyte
The Government had worked to provide more housing in these places, but it hadn't done so in the same way for Whangārei, she said.
Consultation on the council's recent draft growth strategy had identified housing affordability as one of the most important issues facing the district. Housing was also a key driver in WDC's proposed 2021-2031 Long Term Plan.
Mai said WDC had a vital role to play in the supply of land and infrastructure for housing, as well as the management of its existing 164 housing units for elderly people.
"Our primary resource focus is on ensuring we have the infrastructure in place to support growth and levels of service for our communities."
Mai said Government support was being sought to address housing issues across half a dozen areas WDC was working on. These included housing capacity assessments as part of the Government's urban development requirements.
WDC had demonstrated there was enough land to meet overall housing demand in the short, medium and long term.
"Despite this, the availability of the right type of affordable housing remains a key concern for our communities," Mai said.
"Our analysis based on Ministry of Social Development data shows there is current social housing need for approximately 450 units."
Rob Forlong, WDC chief executive, said the council had shown Government officials around Whangārei so they could check out available land, but this still hadn't resulted in it stepping up the pace to get affordable housing moving on this land. A few things had been happening but more effort was needed.
He said population growth, largely driven by newcomers into the district, meant houses were being quickly bought up. Those in the housing sector's lower end through renting or cheaper houses were being driven out by rising prices due to that growth.
"The Government recognises the demand for public housing and emergency housing assistance continues to rise," Megan Woods, Minister of Housing, said when asked if the Government had forgotten Whangārei's housing needs
She said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had last month set up a local governance and working group to accelerate the pace of Northland housing delivery.
"We are concentrating our efforts in regions like Northland where there is high need and demand for public housing is growing at the fastest pace," Woods said.
Kāinga Ora planned to build an extra 350 state homes in Northland, 220 of which would be in Whangārei.
"Northland is the second-fastest-growing region by population in the country, resulting in pressure on existing private and public housing stock."
Kāinga Ora had built 31 new homes in Whangārei since November 2017. There were five current projects it was working on. Two of these were in Raumunga. A six-bedroom Fairburn St home was due for completion before the end of the year . Two other four-bedroom Tennyson St homes were due to be completed by the end of next month.
Earthworks were underway for 37 new two-, three- and four-bedroom homes and a community room in Kāinga Ora's Puriri Park Rd at Maunu, with construction due to start early next year.
Resource consent application for 20 new mostly three- and four-bedroom state homes in Pearce Dr, Kamo would be lodged in January, with earthworks scheduled to be completed by autumn next year. That's when Kāinga Ora was also scheduled to start building on three new homes in Charles St, Kamo.
Woods said the Government, through its Ministry of Housing and Urban Development's Te Maihi o te Whare Māori – Māori and Iwi Housing innovation (MAIHI) action framework and Maihi partnerships programme, was working collectively with local iwi along with the Ministry of Social Development, Te Puni Kōkiri, Kāinga Ora and the council to collectively relieve housing stress for Whangārei and wider Northland.
It was also working with Ngāti Hine Health Trust, One Double Five Community Trust and Kāhui Tū Kaha in a collective called Kāinga Pūmanawa (Housing First Whangārei) that was set up in July last year to address chronic homelessness in the region. Sixty-three people had been accepted into the collective's programme since it was started. This housed and supported people and whānau in Whangārei.
Minister of Housing Megan Woods. Photo / Supplied
A rapid rehousing trial was also being set up in Northland to help people with low to medium complexity in their support needs. About 44 trial places were expected to be available, Woods said.
