Christchurch's Anglican Dean, Lawrence Kimberley lives rent-free in a clergy house - with a stipend of $50,000 a year.

He's held the job since 2015, but has now decided to pursue a new career, aged 61, so he can earn enough before he retires.

"We've got good retirement income coming up with the pension from the church, but the gaffe is the housing provision. And at the moment, we just don't have sufficient capital." Read more

Other transitional housing providers are impacted as well says Monte Cecilia Trust chief executive Bernie Smith.

Smith says there are cheaper ways than private rentals to accommodate people who are homeless, and taxpayers should feel like their money is been wasted.

The Auckland Catholic Diocese's Trust delivers a wide range of housing-related services addressing immediate housing and associated needs, raising public awareness and influencing government policy on housing justice issues.

It also provides a range of wrap-around services aimed at building families' independence by developing the skills they need, however, the Ministry of Social Development stopped using Monte Cecilia after concerns about the impact their service was having on the private market.

The Government directed 37 million dollars to Auckland private landlords and property managers between November 2017 and June 2020.

"They never came to us or to other transitional housing providers that could' have provided homes at half or a third of the cost," Smith says.

Smith says Monte Cecilia made a complaint about it.

The Auditor-General has criticised the Social Development Ministry for renting private properties for emergency housing.

Last (financial) year saw 1996 families come to Monte Cecilia for assistance.

"These families had 4586 children, the country's future generation among them," says Smith.

"Where children experience or face homelessness and poverty, that impacts on their emotional and spiritual wellbeing", he says.

"It's so easy to blame homeless families for their circumstances rather than decades of Government inaction, market-driven policies, greedy landlords getting greedier, the rich getting richer, rising food, heating and fuel costs while these families don't even have a living household income despite being employed".

Smith questions how New Zealand has reached this point where poverty and homelessness are growing at such an alarming rate.

Monte Cecilia and other transitional housing providers had a housing supply line that created warm, dry, secure and sustainable longer-term housing options for families that moved them out of temporary transitional housing.

Smith is asking people to advocate with local and central government officials, pray and donate to support Monte Cecilia in supporting families.

"We continue to run programmes and all the things we do well - we just need affordable and sustainable homes to lease" says Smith.

​The Salvation Army's State of the Nation 2022 report says although the housing supply is increasing in total, much of it is unaffordable for the most vulnerable in the community.

Housing affordability in New Zealand has deteriorated to the worst level on record, with the average property worth 8.8 times the average income at the end of last year according to CoreLogic's latest housing affordability report.

The report says the generally accepted definition of "affordable" is house prices of three times the median income.

Source

• Scoop
• Stuff
• NewstalkZB
• Image: Stuff

The new Child Poverty Related Indicators Report, released Thursday, found there has been no measurable improvement in housing conditions, preventable hospitalisations or food security.

"The report shows our children are suffering unnecessarily.

"Polling shows our communities care and want the Government to ensure families have liveable incomes - and that is an obvious, immediate step to stop many of these issues," says Professor Emeritus Innes Asher, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) spokesperson and Welfare Expert Advisory Group member.

CPAG calls the report "grim" and an "upsetting reality".

"When one out of five children doesn't have enough food to eat in Aotearoa New Zealand, that's a chronic, mass emergency. It's politically-created distress."

"Due to systemic discrimination, whanau Maori, Pacific families and families with disabled members are more likely than others to be facing the toxic stress of poverty.

"Nearly half of Pacific children experience food insecurity, due to low incomes", highlights CPAG.

Reducing child poverty has been a hallmark issue for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who appointed herself minister for child poverty reduction.

In the lead up to the Covid-19 pandemic, the government reported tens of thousands of children had been lifted above income and material hardship since 2018.

The latest Child Poverty Indicators paint a different picture.

Yet Ardern remains up-beat.

"Most children and young people in New Zealand are doing well. However, there is still a group of children for whom life at home is quite different," she said.

"Many of the issues facing children, young people and their families are complex, stubborn and inter-generational, so we know change will take time, and will require sustained action across government and across our communities."

"A major challenge to reducing child poverty involves housing affordability, which has worsened slightly since 2018."

The report found 36 per cent of children lived in households where over 30 per cent of the disposable income was spent on housing.

"Spending more than 30 percent of disposable household income on housing costs is generally considered unaffordable," the report's authors comment.

They say there has not been much "statistically significant" change in the number of children living in homes with major dampness or mould problems.

Source

• Stuff
• Scoop
• Image: Child Poverty Action Group

But we can produce an overabundance of expensive homes. So why the massive disconnect between demand and supply?

Without political ownership and a major overhaul of the current regulatory processes, affordable housing will never be delivered. New Zealand's journey to housing unaffordability has been 30-plus years in the making.

Over the past four decades, I've built hundreds of homes, and have watched the market progressively tilt towards larger homes on smaller, very expensive lots, with building time frames stretching out and productivity plummeting.

Unfortunately, this is what our current system and market dictates, but it is woefully under-delivering on what we need to house everyone, especially in the dawning era where affordability will be paramount.

The current Government's worthy political aspirations to ramp up affordable housing by 10,000 units per annum under the guise of Kiwibuild crashed and burned in spectacular fashion.

They soon realised what those of us in the industry have long known — the delivery system is broken.

At huge political embarrassment, they learned that our underlying system is plagued with hurdles, delays, costs at every turn, and is inadvertently skewed to only create high-cost land and, subsequently, high-cost homes.

It's a pipe dream to think that the current system or market will produce affordable housing without intervention, especially in urban areas.

The sad thing is that the Government's response to fixing the broken system is to change the law so that government projects can sidestep the Resource Management Act (RMA) and leave the rest of the country stuck in the regulatory mire.

Why not be brave and fix the problem for everyone, once and for all? Instead, it's an opportunity lost, and the problem kicked down the road because it's politically difficult.

There are currently many hundreds of unsold new homes sitting in Auckland and other locations around the country because those that need the housing can't afford them.

We have been building a disproportionate oversupply of expensive larger homes, with the greatest area of demand being affordable homes hardly catered for.

This needs to change, and quickly. However, if we continue to follow the same regulatory processes, how can we expect a different outcome? It just won't happen.

If we want affordable housing, we need to produce affordable land free of inflationary minimum size and design-restrictive covenants.

In reality, these covenants are put in place by developers to raise the price of subsequent section releases. They cut out a large portion of buyers who might be wanting a smaller, more efficient home.

Any meaningful changes will only come about under current systems by sidestepping the market and some of the feel-good niceties of planning, and simply getting on with pragmatically producing the housing, and centrally funding the infrastructure needed.

If the politicians have not got the wisdom or courage to change the rules that have created this mess, perhaps they will need to develop their own land that can be used for affordable housing. Previous governments have successfully done it before.

To solve this crisis, we need a different approach

The solution is relatively clear — we need fewer rules and political fortitude, as local authorities will need to be curbed and, in some cases, overruled — and not just for Government projects.

I know of one private enterprise example where a smaller local authority has been sitting on its hands for more than 12 months like possums frozen in the headlights.

It's a $40 million project that will deliver 150 affordable homes to market for less than $400,000 each, including the land.

Clients are crying out for the product, but what I refer to as two star-gazing planners just seem overwhelmed, and the project continues to sit in limbo. The planners' strategy seems to be to go slow with the hope the project will eventually disappear.

How unjust is that on society? Affordable new homes being kept out of the market on the whim of a planner. All the while, holding costs are pushing up prices by the day, and the clients remain unhoused in motels and cars.

Another example is a transitional housing project, with a perfect site and location and the need overwhelming.

This time, the neighbours got a bit jittery, politicians circled, didn't like the heat, and the project was canned, resulting in more motel rooms booked.

God only knows what all this is costing the taxpayer. This is the crazy disconnected world the RMA creates.

If they asked me, I would remove all smaller residential projects from the RMA as it is no longer fit for purpose, and the planning process too subjective. The process often gets highjacked by neighbours, anti-commercial practices, personal agendas and nimbism.

More standardisation of design and modular building needs to be increased, and the consumer conditioned to not expect a bespoke home if they want affordability and value.

Building companies create the expectation that you can have your home any way you want. However, if the consumer realised that building bespoke added at least 25% to the cost of their home, they may view things very differently.

This is even more important now where people will be cutting their cloth accordingly, and looking for homes within their means that deliver efficiency on all fronts.

The social and health costs from not getting more affordable housing into the market far outweigh the cost of providing good housing. All these people forced to live in motels, cars and caravans need a stable, warm place to call home.

Is the RMA helping?

Although well-intentioned, the RMA has morphed into a major stumbling block. Currently it is project-specific and has no cognisance as to what the community actually needs to house its people, or what its impacts are on the financial viability of a project.

It is heavily weighted against the party wanting to commence a new project. The applicant is made to feel guilty until they can prove themselves innocent.

The surrounding homes seem to have an inordinate amount of say, and councils often pander to spurious objections.

It's a cost-plus model, with the first person purchasing paying the bill for infrastructure, GST and all manner of other local authority fees.

The RMA, along with the 70-disjointed individual council district schemes, is an unsustainable model.

What about the Building Act?

In addition to issues caused by the RMA, since the introduction of The Building Act 2004, construction costs have soared, and productivity has plummeted.

Why? Considerable administrative process has cumulatively been forced into place, but it is adding very little material value.

Risk-averse behaviour has turned once helpful local authorities into gun-shy, chicken-little organisations slowing construction down, and demanding consumer money be spent to absolve themselves of liability.

The construction industry currently works at the speed that the controlling local authority can issue and administer consent — and that impacts significantly on productivity and costs.

Some local authorities are brilliant while others are woeful. I have heard in some locations you can wait as long as 21 days for an inspection. How can anyone be expected to be productive or work within constraints like that?

In the past 15 years the cost of building has increased 110%, while the general cost of living has increased only 44%. Much of this extra cost is the result of compounding regulatory change, council fees and unfairly imposed infrastructure cost.

Many good operators have been worn down by the incessant regulatory creep and the growing army of Clipboard Charlies. They are exiting and taking much needed skills away from the industry.

We need strong leadership, meaningful change and a complete overhaul of the RMA, The Building Act and The Local Government Act so that the drivers and outcomes result in efficient, affordable and sustainable housing.

Change will only happen through collaboration between industry and policy makers, but there must be a catalyst for change. I believe we have reached that tipping point.

One would also hope housing can be depoliticised, and an across-party accord could be reached.

It is too important an issue to be used as a political football. Recent events have opened the gates of pragmatism, and we should take this opportunity to improve things for the industry.

A full review of the governing acts should be undertaken, and if regulation doesn't help the delivery of affordable healthy housing or make the industry more productive, then the time has come to ditch it.

• Mike Fox is EasyBuild director and Building Today, columnist.
• First published in Building Today. Republished with permission.
• The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of CathNews.

Houses and apartments sold for over $800,000 would generate a donation to Wellington City Mission.

The money will come from developments in the pipeline like Erskine College, inner-city apartments, and the controversial Shelly Bay site.

"The outcome of these developments should be positive in many ways rather than just providing some houses for some people and a developer making some money", Cassels said.

"The Wellington property market is still hot at the top end, and that's a testament to how attractive a proposition it is to live in this city," Cassels says.

"At the same time, it's undeniable that Wellington still has pockets of very visible social issues such as chronic homelessness, alcoholism and child poverty. It's a pretty grim paradox."

The Mission's association with the Stop Out Club for wayward youth founded in the early 20th century captured Cassels' attention.

He then learned more about the charity's historical ties with the city.

The Stop Out organisation started in 1919 to provide recreation to Te Aro Flat children in Wellington.

It was an attempt to prevent them from becoming "stop-outs" - period slang for "troubled youth".

Wellington City Mission is going to develop a commercial building on Oxford Terrace which it purchased earlier this year.

The plan is to move its services from Newtown to the new Mt Cook site.

Between 30 and 50 supported-living units will also be developed under the Housing First initiative, subject to final design plans.

The money from The Wellington Company was "huge" for the charity, Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge said.

It would assist the Mission in its work with more than 500 of the capital's most vulnerable people.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• en.wikipedia.org
• Image: stuff.co.nz

Some of the fastest growth took place last year and, at the end of March, 11,067 eligible households are waiting for a place to live.

The near-record high statistics were released on Monday by the Ministry for Social Development and the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development.

The median wait time for people waiting to get into a house or move to a suitable house is now 107 days, up nine days since the end of 2018.

As special needs grants for motel stays rose to 4090, Housing Minister Phil Twyford told Stuff that the Government is committed to addressing the long-term issues New Zealand faces.

"It's going to take a concerted effort over many years to end homelessness", said Twyford.

He warned the need for housing rises as the colder months approach.

Auckland Action Against Poverty coordinator Ricardo Menendez March said the Government needed to move its focus from KiwiBuild to state housing.

"The Government's plan to build 6,400 state homes over four years will barely cover half the families waiting for social housing.

"We are calling on the Government to shift its focus towards a greater provision of state housing instead of using vast amounts of crown land for private housing that is out of reach for the 11,067 families on the waiting list," Menendez March said.

"To curb the millions of dollars on subsidising moteliers to provide unsafe emergency accommodation the Government should take decisive action to better fund Housing New Zealand, to strengthen renters rights and prioritise the build of more public housing it is currently planning to.

"Without a change of plans, the Government risks entrenching the conditions the previous administration created that led us to a record number of people without a place to call home."

The Labour-led Government entered the 2017 election promising to fix the homeless crisis.

Before the 2017 General Election, churches also highlighted the importance of housing.

Speaking to 600 people in the Anglican Cathedral in Wellington, Cardinal John Dew reminded forum participants that in 2017 New Zealand had the worst rate of homelessness in the OECD.

At the same gathering, Anglican bishop of Wellington Bishop Justin Duckworth delivered a provocative reminder to those in Parliament.

"We're talking about probably the issue that in the polls is the greatest issue facing New Zealanders. For me, this is no longer about housing; it's just simply about do you care? Do you actually care?"

Sources

• Labour
• Yale University
• CathNews
• Stuff
• Image: NZ Herald

Driving around her hometown of Alexandria, Va., on a bright and sunny morning last week, McIlvaine slowed the car at white spire after white spire.

She turned her head, cocked an eyebrow and scrutinized each red-brick square on its grassy plot.

"I sort of go past everything and say, ‘That could be affordable housing,' " McIlvaine said.

"I go past a Scottish Rite temple and say, ‘Do they really need all that land?' Once you start looking, you can't stop — there are opportunities everywhere."

Over the past five years, McIlvaine has proved her own maxim.

In her work for the city of Alexandria, where she serves as director of housing, she has shepherded four churches through selling or leasing all or part of their land and converting it to space for affordable housing.

At least two more churches are "in the pipeline," McIlvaine said.

And it's not just Alexandria.

Churches across the District, Maryland and Virginia are turning their properties into living space for low-income residents.

David Bowers, vice president of the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners, said his organization has helped seven houses of worship in the Baltimore-Washington corridor do this in the past 12 years.

Enterprise is working with roughly two dozen more churches.

Bowers said the Mid-Atlantic region has become a national leader in this arena, pioneering a faith-based solution to the dearth of affordable housing that advocates across the country are beginning to imitate.

He and others at Enterprise, which formed its Faith-Based Development Initiative specifically to encourage this tactic in 2006, hope to bring the strategy to major cities across the nation.

Proponents say churches are ideally suited to build affordable housing.

Houses of worship often sit on valuable land but are less concerned with cutting the best deal possible, thus minimizing costs borne by nonprofit developers.

And, for churches faced with shrinking congregations and underutilized buildings, installing affordable units offers a fresh infusion of cash and a better way to serve the community, backers say.

"In Matthew 25, we are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked," the Rev. Sam Marullo, a former professor at the District's Wesley Theological Seminary, said at a forum on faith and affordable housing in the District last month.

"I would add into that Matthew 25 quote, ‘Build housing for those that need housing.' "

When McIlvaine walked through the door of Alexandria's Office of Housing in 2006, no one there was thinking about churches.

But she couldn't get them off her mind. Continue reading

However they say little has been done to address the urgent need for more long-term secure and affordable housing.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand

Caritas says there is a noticeable lack of investment in building new homes.

Of the announced $258 million new spending over four years for housing, only $38.7 million is budgeted to be spent in the next financial year.

This is less than 5 percent of the $857 million budgeted for a new tax administration system.

"While emergency housing is essential, families need secure and affordable housing in the long term to truly make a difference for future generations," says Caritas Director Julianne Hickey.

"Families and homes go together," she said.

Hickey says new investment to support the most vulnerable children is important, however every child needs a stable roof over their head and a family needs an adequate and stable income in order to flourish.

"The Budget does not substantially address key issues and concerns of the vulnerable in our community, in relation to secure and affordable housing, secure and adequate income and a social security system that meets the needs of families and individuals on a benefit."

Read Caritas' full press release

The Justice and Peace Commission of the Diocese of Auckland

The Commission said that while more funding for emergency housing is welcome it is only temporary relief that will help a small number of homeless people.

It says more permanent housing to provide certainty for families is urgently needed.

"It is unclear how $200 million for 750 more social housing places over four years would have a significant impact on the present shortage."

It is likely that this will not provide more state houses but will further the Government's intentions to reduce state housing in a time of extreme need."

The Commission's view it is the responsibility of the Government itself to provide and maintain adequate and affordable stable housing for those unable to provide it for themselves.

It is disappointed that there are no immediate measures to alleviate the housing crisis, for example, upgrading vacant state houses to make them available for families in need of housing.

Read the Auckland Diocese's JPC full press release

Source

• Supplied
• Image: stuff.co.nz

The Commission says:

• The Budget fails to adequately address the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state as discussed by Pope Francis last week in an appeal to leaders of the UN who met in Rome.
• While some attempt has been made to assist in the care of children the Budget does not creatively engage the community to raise the standards of the poorest New Zealanders.
• Initiatives to provide financial assistance for first home buyers are largely absent. For many families the desire to own their own home continues to be unattainable
• Despite New Zealand's increasing environmental footprint, the Budget does not address climate change and New Zealand's increasing rate of carbon emissions.

"It's great to see an extra $20 million going to combat New Zealand's high rate of rheumatic fever, a disease clearly associated with poverty," says Chairperson Shane Coleman. "That sort of measure and other programmes such as the increased funding for community budgeting services are to be applauded and are definitely a step in the right direction".

"Catholic agencies at the grass roots such as the Society of St Vincent de Paul and our low decile Catholic schools see the effects of poverty on a daily basis and report to us unprecedented demand for social services," Mr Coleman says.

"The Central Auckland Office of St Vincent de Paul has reported a 31% increase in demand for food parcels from the same period last year. This illustrates there is still great financial pressure on families and the basic needs of life are not being met."

"We call on the Government to continue to address the structural causes of poverty, including implementation of the recommendations of the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty."

"While the Government has taken some action in recent months, the shortage of affordable housing, both privately owned and rental housing, remains a major problem, especially in Auckland."

The Budget provides only a small increase in social housing against an ever-increasing demand. "There is an urgent need for Government to take a bolder approach and provide a significant increase in funding for social housing providers" says David Zussman, Executive of Monte Cecilia Trust.

The Commission says in this election year it challenges the Government to:

• Improve environmental sustainability,
• Work for those who live on the margins
• Put into place practical programmes to lift the standard of living for the most vulnerable in our communities and neighbourhoods.

Read full press release

Image: Stuff.co.nz

The Hale Wai Vista Support Housing Services program, launched in collaboration with Prudential Locations, is a 215-unit affordable rental project.

"This is a great example of a nonprofit organisation and private sector company partnering to address a business and a social need," said Catholic Charities Hawaii President and CEO Jerry Rauckhorst.

"The program advances our mission to provide services to the poor and most vulnerable in our community while assisting a private business (to) improve its financial viability."

Source

• Pacific Business
• Image: i.ytimg.com

Beech told the Committee how when she lived in Housing New Zealand flats in Petone, a long-time resident, a kaumatua figure, helped retrieve her precious 1840 violin when it was stolen from her car. He lived alone in a two-bedroomed flat and kept an informal eye on things.

‘From the perspective of his household, of his housing need, it might be easy to conclude that he didn't need a two-bedroomed flat,' said Ms Beech. ‘But our community needed him.... I hate to think of what it would have been like if our flats had been a series of unconnected households, rather than a community.'

Watch Lisa perform on Brook Sabin on the week in politics last Thursday (3:15 minutes in):

Caritas' oral submission to the Social Services Select Committee considering the Bill also included the experience of a state house tenant from Christchurch.

Caritas welcomed the government's increased focus on housing affordability and intention to increase social housing, Caritas Director Julianne Hickey told the Committee. ‘However, any expansion of social housing in the community must extend social housing by State and private providers, rather than replace it.'

• Read oral submission
• Read written submission

Source

• Caritas Aotearoa/New Zealand
• Image: Screen Shot TV3

The Social Housing Reform (Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Amendment Bill) allows private sector groups to be allowed to replace Housing New Zealand as providers of social housing.

However, Catholic social justice agency Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand warns that rushing legislation to implement new housing policy could actually undermine promising new housing initiatives in the 2013 Budget.

Caritas Director Julianne Hickey welcomes the recognition in the Budget of the need to address crucial issues affecting the wellbeing of New Zealanders, including housing and child poverty.

‘We particularly welcome the new spending on rheumatic fever, home insulation and the extension of Income Related Rent subsidies as an acknowledgement that the Government has listened to the Children's Commissioner Expert Advisory Group,' says Mrs Hickey. ‘However, we will continue to debate the scale and detail of particular policy initiatives - much more can and needs to be done.'

In particular, Caritas is deeply concerned that two new housing initiatives are being fast-tracked through the legislative process. Turn-around times of two weeks and six weeks for each of the new housing bills at Select Committee means a reduced time available for public submissions.

‘The housing situation is serious,' says Mrs Hickey, ‘and it is affecting the wellbeing of many New Zealand families. However, we have serious concerns that fast-tracking both Parliamentary legislative and Council resource consent processes will not deliver good outcomes either.

‘Homes are more than just walls and buildings. They are about people living together as families and as communities. Good planning results in quality, stable homes and communities. Decision-makers must consider the environmental impact of housing, and the adequate availability of services such as public transport, schooling and health services to ensure a good quality of life of all families who live in new homes.'

Inadequate planning and monitoring have previously resulted in leaky homes, or homes built on land subject to liquefaction or other environmental disasters, says Mrs Hickey. ‘Protecting the environment and protecting our most vulnerable citizens requires consideration of the needs of the earth and the people who live on the earth.'

‘We also find it strange that in a year where housing features prominently in the Budget, and where new housing policy is being implemented, that the Budget drops funding for housing policy advice from $8 million to $6.8 million.'

Source

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: Media2.aponline

Through reference to social and economic data the Report identifies significant positive progress in areas of pre-school education and crime and punishment. It also demonstrates how little has been achieved over the past five years in at least three areas of serious social need: housing, child poverty and youth employment.

Salvation Army spokesman Major Campbell Roberts said over the past five years, Auckland had built up a housing deficit of more than 16,000 dwellings. Child poverty has been hovering around 21 percent. Youth employment has fallen to its lowest level in more than 10 years.

"If our children came home with a 'D' from school, most of us would have a vigorous plan of action to turn it around. That same vigour is needed from our political and Government agency leaders."

Roberts said we needed to stop saying, "She'll be Right" and start saying, "It's not alright" when it came to these issues.

Sometimes it seems that as a nation we're taking a "she'll be right" attitude to policy,' says Major Roberts. 'This results in people living in situations of unnecessary hardship.'

Report Card

• Teenage pregnancy A
• Early childhood education B
• Infant mortality B
• Housing related debt C+
• Drug related crime C+
• Wages and incomes C+
• Children at risk C+
• Benefits and pensions C
• Living costs and food poverty C
• Alcohol C Gambling C
• Housing affordability C-
• Children and violence D
• Educational achievement D
• Child poverty D
• Employment and unemployment D
• Housing availability D

Source

• The Salvation Army
• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: Eparcha.org