The quest to create affordable housing in New Zealand is an interminable dilemma. But as Dan Heyworth writes, the issue comes from the old British feudal land system on which ours is based. Recently I was involved in a project that responded to government calls to use off-site manufacturing to bring affordability to the housing … Read more
In the second part of a new event series looking at the future of Auckland, The Spinoff and Auckland Council host In My Backyard: Glen Innes, to ask what the suburb can teach the rest of the city about housing. Photographer Brendan Kitto shares his images from the 2016 exhibition Redevelop which explored housing changes in … Read more
In the second part of a new event series looking at the future of Auckland, The Spinoff and Auckland Council host In My Backyard: Glen Innes, to ask what the suburb can teach the rest of the city about housing. Throughout its history, Glen Innes has had the highest density of state housing in New … Read more
Government fixation on gentrifying state housing neighbourhoods to provide sites for KiwiBuild developments seriously undermines the opportunity to meet the most pressing needs, writes Alan Johnson, the Child Poverty Action Group’s housing spokesperson. The recent media preoccupation with KiwiBuild as a middle class welfare programme risks overlooking a far more critical housing story. It is … Read more
Dr Lance O’Sullivan has issued a challenge to Phil Twyford after concluding state housing is a direct cause of kids becoming chronically ill. I recently moved from Northland to Auckland and coming from there I thought I knew what poverty was. On my second day of working as a GP here in Auckland I was … Read more
As Housing NZ prepares to develop the corner near Russell Brown’s house in Point Chevalier, he muses on the redevelopment, gentrification and spiralling growth in real estate values of the Auckland suburb he calls home. Last week, I wandered around the corner to watch the news crews assemble outside Jacinda Ardern’s Point Chevalier home in … Read more
Renters owning dogs is a divisive issue, especially among landlords. But what happens when your landlord is the government? A few days ago, new Minister of Housing Phil Twyford announced that residents of Housing New Zealand homes will soon be allowed to have dogs. At the moment Housing NZ tenants aren’t allowed dogs except in … Read more
Buildings in Wellington that once housed almost 150 people have lain empty for five years, even as an intensifying housing crisis has rendered 40,000 Kiwis homeless – including hundreds of Wellingtonians. How did it happen? Marc Daalder explains. In 1959, as construction of The Terrace Flats in Wellington neared completion, the building’s architect died. His … Read more
As summer drops away with the leaves a family in West Auckland prepares to endure another winter in substandard government housing, in a place that feels far from a home. Don Rowe visits and hears their story. “We drove past where our old house was the other day and they’ve built a new one. My … Read more