Westpac Bank says New Zealand will need to ramp up its house building machine to about 125,000 homes over the next five years if it hopes to keep up with rampant migration and mitigate the post-pandemic slowdown. Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said while some parts of the country were catching up with longer-term underbuilding Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Housing’
State of the Nation – some successes but escalating challenges too
Thursday, February 15th, 2024
In the midst of the country’s escalating cost-of-living crisis, the Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2024 report spotlights the growing socio-economic challenges confronting New Zealanders. The report, Ngā Tukunga Iho – The Things We Inherit, offers an annual assessment of the country’s social progress – this year especially – children and youth housing crime Read more
Human rights abuses – ‘guilty’ landlords
Monday, July 31st, 2023
Some New Zealand landlords are so neglectful, the properties they let contravene basic human rights. They’re damp, squalid, cold, neglected and expensive. Yet in many, rents keep going up. While rent hikes can reflect the costs landlords face, there are standards that must be maintained, according to Wellington Property Investors Association president Peter Ambrose. Passing Read more
Plan now for ‘staggering’ rise in retirees renting
Monday, July 24th, 2023
Kiwi home ownership is losing ground, with a fifth of all today’s retirees renting and a ‘staggering’ rise in older tenants predicted. It’s a problem that needs urgent attention, the Retirement Commission says. The Commission should know. It’s just completed a survey about older people’s housing status. Today, 20 percent of those over 65 are Read more
Parish housing trust born in midst of housing crisis
Monday, July 17th, 2023
Born in the midst of a housing crisis, the St Joseph’s Parish Environment Justice and Peace Group founded The Upper Hutt Housing Trust. Starting with only $10 in the bank, the transformed Housing Trust now manages 31 rental spaces, housing 110 individuals across 41 households. It also owns its first property. Emboldened by their mission, Read more
New Zealands most ‘housing insecure’ are men
Monday, June 12th, 2023
Men are New Zealand’s most vulnerable when it comes to housing. Men seem particularly vulnerable to housing insecurity, says Greg, a peer support worker with Lifewise, who works with men experiencing homelessness. He told RNZ’s The Detail they’re often facing a web of other personal challenges. Thinking of the people he works with now, Greg Read more
Catholic recommendations for Budget 2023
Thursday, February 16th, 2023
Auckland Catholic diocese has written to the Government’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee about the 2023 Budget Policy Statement (BPS). The diocese’s Justice and Peace Commission’s submission particularly focuses on housing and child poverty, Māori children and the youth justice system. Housing affordability Acknowledging the ‘10,688 homes added to the public housing stock since 2017″, Read more
Housing strategy launched to boost home ownership for Pacific people
Thursday, December 1st, 2022Pacific people looking for affordable, safe and culturally suitable quality housing will have something to look forward to with the launch of New Zealand’s first housing strategy specific to their needs. The Fale mo Aiga: Pacific Housing Strategy and Action Plan 2030 was launched on Monday by the Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio Read more
Auckland City Mission has new home
Thursday, March 3rd, 2022
Ten years after the Auckland City Mission – Te Tāpui Atawhai – began working on finding a new home, it has finally opened its doors. Called HomeGround, Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson (pictured at the new facility) says its new one-stop health and social services space for the city’s most vulnerable people realises a long-held Read more
What’s up with Labour and National’s ‘slum enabling act’?
Thursday, November 25th, 2021
How excited they were when it was announced. On October 19, Housing Minister Megan Woods and National leader Judith Collins jointly declared their support for the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. This bill, they said, would allow “at least 48,200 and as many as 105,500 new homes” to be built Read more