Manaaki Tairāwhiti and Trust Tairāwhiti present the Gisborne Housing Strategy to Council

From 27 February 2020

Manaaki Tairāwhiti and Trust Tairāwhiti presented the Gisborne Housing Strategy report at a public deputation to the Gisborne District Council today.

The housing strategy, including the Gisborne Housing Stocktake, was commissioned by Manaaki Tairāwhiti and Trust Tairāwhiti (previously Activate Tairāwhiti) in late 2019 to address a developing housing crisis in Gisborne. 

“We have the means to stop the housing crisis from getting worse. We want to take co-ordinated action to get whānau and tamāriki out of motels and over-crowded living situations and into healthy affordable homes,” says Manaaki Tairāwhiti Co-Chair Ronald Nepe.  

The strategy outlines a plan for rapid action combined with longer term changes and coordinated, local, cross-agency action.
The goal is to increase housing supply to sufficiently eliminate housing stress in the region.
It also proposes examining alternative funding models that would bring forward infrastructure delivery to make more readily developable land available.

Manaaki Tairāwhiti and Trust Tairāwhiti wish to target short-run objectives while working on long term solutions.
They say six, of the 17 short, medium, and long term actions and impacts identified in the strategy will be started as soon as possible, as these actions will have the most impact on the housing supply spectrum. 

The Gisborne District Council should review its rules around district plan provisions, papakāinga developments and reassess development contribution verses rating tools as a means of funding the necessary infrastructure.
Manaaki Tairāwhiti will work closely with Kainga Ora on rapidly increasing social housing supply in Gisborne.  

Solutions need to be across the whole housing network.
A lack of executive houses for rent, for example, can result in increases in emergency housing lists as medium-priced accommodation is snapped up for higher prices because of market shortage.

Trust Tairāwhiti CEO Gavin Murphy believes the data gathered for the strategy will be particularly useful moving forward.

“There were many anecdotal comments out there so this process has been important in establishing the facts.
The housing market is an interconnected system and interventions or constraints in one area, place added pressure in other parts of the system. 
The shortages we face now are clear, however the region aspires to support sustainable growth.
I believe this strategy offers a good mix of short-term solutions and strategic thinking for the medium and longer term.”

The long-term aspiration is to have a permissive planning system and smooth infrastructure delivery that makes it both economic and efficient to build houses for the people of Gisborne.

Key points from the housing stocktake:

• The Gisborne region has acute housing need. There is a significant shortage of housing, which is increasingly unaffordable for many to either buy or rent. Average house prices are now nine times the average income. Locally, rents rose by 9% last year (compared to 5% nationally).
• Housing supply is unable to keep up with demand driven by a surge in population growth, following many years of stability. There is a shortage of approximately 400 homes in Gisborne.
• This has resulted in a rapid increase in emergency housing provision, steep increases in social housing waiting lists, increase in crowding, lack of availability of mid-range rental homes (and in fact a short supply in all rental homes) and anecdotal evidence of employers losing potential employees because they cannot find suitable housing.
• There is potential to leverage Gisborne’s well capitalised local authority and community trust to fund housing infrastructure.

Manaaki Tairāwhiti Housing Strategy Overview

The Gisborne Housing Stocktake Report

The Gisborne Housing Strategy Report