Dunedin is failing to meet a massive demand for social housing and the city is already facing a shortfall of more than 600 housing units.
An interim report from the Mayor’s Taskforce for Housing found there needed to be 650 more social and community units just to meet current demand.
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The taskforce was established at the start of the year to make recommendations to the Dunedin City Council on what the city’s housing issues were and how they could be remedied.
Made up of representatives from the Dunedin City Council, Ngai Tahu, community housing providers, University of Otago, central government, social service agencies, real estate industry and the Southern District Health Board, the group will present the interim report to the council next week.
Demand for social and community housing was identified as the group’s top priority, but calculating the exact number of people in need had been difficult.
Using information from the council, Housing New Zealand and social agencies, the taskforce came to 650 units as the best estimate.
Salvation Army Dunedin ministry leader David McKenzie said the demand would come as a surprise to many Dunedin residents but it was real and needed to be addressed urgently.
As a member of the taskforce, the Salvation Army and other social agencies were tasked with providing an accurate figure for the number of people who needed housing, Mr McKenzie said.
Increasing rental prices and population in the city were exacerbating the problem as more people on lower incomes were priced out of the market, he said.
But there was now a real urgency from the agencies involved to fix the issue and the taskforce had led to great collaboration, he said.
Included in the report are more than 20 recommendations covering everything from the development of more social housing to the lobbying of the Government for more assistance.
Taskforce chairman Cr Aaron Hawkins said the group’s final report would offer more ‘‘concrete’’ recommendations and would likely include requests for financial support from the Government and greater investment by the council.
Support from the Government not only needed to be financial but also needed to include changes to its subsidies and supplements for people on low incomes, Cr Hawkins said.
For example, if the Government’s accommodation supplement and income-related rent subsidy were made available to people living in council housing there would be more of a incentive for the council to invest, he said.
The report showed the city’s housing problems were complex and required a collaborative approach, not just from local and central government, but also social agencies and the private sector.A final report is expected to be presented to the council in mid-2019.
Recommendations
Housing taskforce interim recommendations to the DCC
• Support an housing action plan for the city with support and financial assistance from the Government.
• Advocate for new developments over a certain size to include a percentage of affordable housing.
• Push for a review of the Government’s accommodation supplement and income-related rent subsidy.
• Prioritise the accessibility of housing for those most in need.
• Develop plans to invest in a new supply of affordable housing.
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Comments
It will be ok our pm and Winston will talk and talk and talk about it.....talking is all they do.
National spent 9 years ruining us and creating 50 years of dire health, environmental and social problems. "Our pm and Winston" are fixing a catastrophe caused by self serving "think about myself and my rich cronies -- b*gger anyone less fortunate" politics. So many kiwi people have died because of national's degraded health system. So many kiwi people have become homeless because of their policies. The past ten years were a mean, punitive New Zealand that I hope we never witness again. Go jacinda and Winston!!!
Loulou When National came to power , labour had rushed through the emissions trading scheme, which cost this country money, they also signed the free trade deal with China which had a negative impact on many business here, they aslo spent as much money as they could last minute by buying the railway back at a premium a railway that has bleed money ever since . Then there's all the finance companies falling over and the global financial crisis. National had to deal with all that mess as well as two major earthquakes and a mining disaster ,and despite that the country did very well for 9 years. Labour is busy destroying taranaki and the wider economy with it's mad green policies and they even gave that porn king guy a billion dollars to sqauander. They have no clue what they are doing
You all seem to be forgetting the population increase; 500 refugees were resettled in Dunedin between 2016 and 2017. That appears to be when the crisis started. Hawkins and his fellow Greenies in the DCC can't afford to admit that causative part of the social housing problem.
Calm down everybody. I'm sure now that Jacinda has returned from maternity leave and is no longer distracted by the photo opportunities with baby - not to mention the interviews with Women's Weekly - she can get back to the business of running the country. Go Jacinda (and that other guy!)
Something is amiss here. Two years ago we had 80 empty state houses, now there is a deficit of 600? Are we saying nearly all of Dunedin's population increase in the last 2 years is from disadvantaged persons? The government and its policies are the main reasons for housing shortfalls; low interest rates, migration, costly improvements to the rental stock, all contribute to the challenge.