Mana Kāinga – Housing
Community Land Trusts – Lessons for Aotearoa New Zealand
Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have delivered positive benefits across urban regeneration projects; have mitigated some of the negative impacts of gentrification and of market uncertainty and volatility; have made good use of publicly-owned land for affordable housing; have provided pathways to ownership opportunities; and have engaged residents and supported community capacity building.
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Opportunities for independent play versus car parking?
Children are at the heart of this research. To evaluate the opportunities for independent mobility and play within residential areas, we observed, documented and analysed access to and design of different open spaces as places for children to play where they can experience and learn about cooperation, creativity, freedom and joy.
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Spending on Energy
Being able to affordably heat the home and access other essential energy services is a challenge faced by many New Zealand households. Outdoor temperatures (proxied) expectedly play a role and so do seasons. But stand-alone dwellings and larger dwellings are associated with higher energy expenditures. Households in rental dwellings also tend to have higher energy expenditures. Household income is also a statistically significant predictor of household energy expenditures, but lower income households in smaller dwellings may not reduce their energy expenditure in the same way as other households.
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Low Build Cost, Increasing House Prices, Declining Affordability
The Department of Building and Housing in 2008 showed build to demonstrate that low-cost housing could be built at less than $1,500/m2. Minimising construction cost is crucial, but house price increases meant that the Starter Home is less and less affordable. 39 percent of local renting households could affordably buy it in 2011 but only 23 percent in 2023. In 2011 purchase would have required 42 percent of the local median household income. By 1 June 2023, purchasing the Starter Home would have committed 77 percent of median household income on mortgage repayment.
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Housing Accords: Over-promising, Under-delivering in a time of housing crisis.
Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas were introduced in 2013 as a ‘laxative’ to local planning. They were to accelerate residential new builds. This study shows the Housing Accord in Rolleston over-promised and under-delivered. There is little evidence of accelerated builds. Price suppression was minor and limited. Numbers were small and less than promised. Assumptions underpinning Housing Accords of a chain between house prices, build costs, and public planning regimes are not sustained in Rolleston’s Special Housing Areas. Accelerated building as well as affordable housing requires purposeful action rather than generalised land release.
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Kaupapa Māori researchers forge a brighter future for mokopuna
Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge - He Kainga Whakamana Tangata, Whakamana Taiao recognizes the importance of community knowledge in the development of effective housing solutions. With over 75% of their research partners being Māori and members of communities impacted by current housing challenges, BBHTC has been able to access a unique depth of knowledge and understanding that traditional Westernised research has never been able to acquire. This insight has inspired the creation of innovative, sustainable housing solutions that prioritise the well-being of both people and the environment. At a recent National Māori Housing Conference, BBHTC Tangata Whenua co-chair, Rihi Te Nana, highlighted the amazing impact of community-led kaupapa Māori research. Representatives at the conference were encouraged to explore bold and innovative ways to share their research with the wider community.
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Maia Ratana - Home on wheels part of housing solutions for young Māori
Maia Ratana speaks to Julian Wilcox of Mapuna RNZ about her experience on building a tiny home on wheels as a way to provide a kainga for her whanau. She also talks about the realities that face rangatahi māori when it comes to the current housing market and how this can be a viable option for people looking for home security.
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He Whare Mō Wai?
He Whare Mō Wai? is a by rangatahi, for rangatahi podcast and video series hosted by Jacqueline Paul, Maia Ratana, Hanna-Marie Monga and Pania Newton. He Whare Mō Wai? creates a space for rangatahi to share stories, advice, and aspirations for kāinga across Aotearoa and to inspire others who wish to pursue their housing dreams. In this series, we kōrero with rangatahi and experts about navigating home ownership, renting, finance, mortgages, homelessness, and more.
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What Makes a House a Home: Discussions with young mothers at Te Tipu Whenua o Pa Harakeke.
Finding out from young mothers what makes a house a home can help guide housing policy and strategy to ensure that young mothers and their whānau (kinship collective) have accommodation that not only meets their requirements for how they want to live but supports them to grow into their full potential as a whānau. In this study, young mothers at Te Tipu Whenua o Pa Harakeke, Flaxmere, Hawke’s Bay took part in housing discussions towards the end of 2020. This small study trialled the HOMING method. This is an innovative technique designed by Dr James Berghan that uses blocks to help people to articulate what makes a house a home for them and allowed us to work with young mothers to get an insight into what they value in a home.
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What housing characteristics support seniors? Seniors’ experiences of housing and home in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic
This paper aims to explore what can be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic about adaptable, functional housing design that supports seniors’ resilience. This paper considers how physical and design features enable seniors to stay safe, develop coping strategies, give and receive care and maintain social connections.
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Government residential maintenance incentives and information programmes
This report investigates programmes or requirements in other countries on the maintenance of residential dwellings to ascertain if these incentives and programmes are useful in a New Zealand context. It uses a web-based literature review undertaken from November 2020 to October 2021. Although designers, builders, purchasers, product suppliers, and politicians frequently focus on construction costs...
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Innovating Housing Futures: Waikato Case Study
This report presents a case study of social innovation in housing, through developing integrated responses to housing unaffordability within the Waikato region. The two linked innovative responses described are strategic networking (exemplified by the Waikato Housing Initiative – WHI), and the establishment of a community land trust (the Waikato Community Lands Trust – WCLT)...
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Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua: Māori housing realities and aspirations - chapter summaries
The Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua Kaupapa Māori Research Project draws on expertise from across the Māori housing sector. The project responds to the right and aspiration of Māori researchers, in collaboration with Māori organisations and communities, to develop Māori housing solutions. The outputs of the Kaupapa Māori Research Project include a book Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua: Māori Housing Realities...
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Reflections on kaumātua, pakeke and seniors’ housing
Launched on 2 November 2022 at the Moa Crescent Kaumātua village in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton) this booklet is an information resource to promote better housing for our ageing population. It presents BBHTC/Ageing Well research exploring why changes are needed to our housing system, looks at some imaginative opportunities and shares the housing experiences and aspirations of kaumātua and seniors...
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A critical review of Rangatahi Māori and housing policy
This working paper is a critical review of rangatahi Māori and housing policy in Tāmaki Makaurau, forming part of the research project ‘He tātai whetu ki te rangi, he rangatahi ki te kāinga: Rangatahi pathways to safe, secure and affordable homes’. The review was prepared by and for BBHTC's rangatahi team to identify the gaps and opportunities in the current housing system...
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Innovating Housing Futures: Case Study of the Nelson Housing Reserve Fund
Nelson has consistently been identified as one of New Zealand’s least affordable regions. In response to growing housing pressures, Nelson City Council has made solving housing unaffordability one of their top priorities. An important component of the Council’s strategy has been the creation of a Housing Reserve Fund (HRF), a dedicated fund to support the delivery of social and affordable housing...
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Trade-offs in community housing providers’ procurement decision-making
This report presents a case study of the trade-offs that one community housing provider (CHP) made in procuring new-built stock, with a focus on how consideration of residents’ needs and perspectives is factored into their decision-making. The practices of consulting with, understanding, and reflecting residents’ perspectives have become central to the management practices of many not-for-profit...
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Youth homelessness in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand
This scoping report draws attention to youth homelessness in Tāmaki Makaurau. Homelessness is on the rise in Aotearoa New Zealand, with half of those experiencing homelessness under the age of 25. Youth homelessness is documented internationally, but the local context lacks data and literature. The research finds that Māori young people are experiencing some of the worst housing deprivation...
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Covid-19 and media constructions of housing and home in Aotearoa New Zealand
Mainstream media persistently reduces housing to a property investment and housing stock as a commodity for trade according to this report, which examines the use of "home" as the central mechanism of defence in national public health measures to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The response highlighted Aotearoa’s persistent problems with unaffordable and insecure housing...
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Kaupapakāinga: The potential for Māori cohousing
Approaches to kaupapa Māori development such as papakāinga housing bear similarities with collective housing models such as cohousing. Cohousing, a Danish model of collective housing, combines private dwellings with shared spaces and facilities. Papakāinga and cohousing communities often share aspirations for social, environmental, and economic sustainability...
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Pathways to renting among older former homeowners
This paper explores the experiences of older renters who were former homeowners. These renters’ trajectories reflect society’s shift to complex and risky housing pathways. The typical causes of loss of homeownership for those who had previously been homeowner included: divorce/separation, aging, and planned choice. Participants’ decision-making was also affected by their ties to birthplace, family base. . .
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The condition of owned and rented housing in Aotearoa New Zealand
Using a national housing assessment survey and information on housing tenure, this paper explores the distribution of a range of indicators of housing condition, comparing between owned and rented stock. On average across Aotearoa New Zealand, rental dwellings are more likely to be in a poorer state of repair and experience higher rates of visible mould than owner-occupied dwellings.
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Exploring the factors affecting Māori home ownership
There are positive associations between homeownership and wellbeing, which make the significant declines in Māori home ownership a topic of concern. This paper examines the pathways for transitioning Māori from a nation of renters to homeowners. Using data gathered throughout a 35-year longitudinal study of a group in Christchurch, we examined cultural connectedness, socio-economic functioning. . .
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“It feels real good having my own space” – Young Māori mothers in the E Hine Study
The provision of good quality housing for young families is a key in supporting health and well-being. This is especially important for young Māori mothers and their children, who experience greater social and health inequities. Low-quality housing can negatively affect health, safety, employment, education, social connectedness, and identity. Seeking the views of young Māori mothers...
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An exploration of the Māori housing-health nexus during the mid-Twentieth Century
Māori died at seven times the national rate during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic. Government officials noted what they described as the shocking housing conditions experienced by Māori. Despite the connections between Māori health and housing being apparent, the interwar years saw little government response. From the late 1950s and through the 1960s, Māori were able to access...
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Ageing in place as an older tenant: Independence and uncertainty
More people in mid-life and older are renting in New Zealand. This is a significant change. We asked 108 older tenants about their experiences of ‘ageing in place’ in rentals in five areas: Waiheke Island, Marlborough District, Western Bay of Plenty District, Tauranga City and the Hawke's Bay – areas with an older population profile, increasing proportions of older tenants, and unaffordable rents.
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Hei whakatū ngā kāinga mō te iwi Māori: Producing, retaining and maintaining affordable...
Māori Housing Providers are relatively new to social and affordable housing supply and management. As capacity and capability is now strengthening, there is a strong will for Māori agencies to respond to Māori needs. The new providers are keen to assist, recognising that to Māori a home is more than a house. Māori seek spiritual, emotional and cultural identity connections to the land...
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Accommodation Supplement: High expenditure, low efficacy
In the 2020 budget, almost $2.4 billion was allocated to the provision of the Accommodation Supplement. There have been substantial increases in Government expenditure on accommodation supplements over the last twenty-five years. Even so, many households in Aotearoa New Zealand face significant affordability problems. It is estimated that 361,000 households in 2019 were in housing affordability stress...
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Building the foundations of collaboration: From housing development to community...
Collaborative governance and planning are an improvement on technocratic “top-down” approaches. They are however, often criticized for exacerbating power imbalances. Other criticisms include failing to be inclusive and impartial and ignoring historical conflict. In this paper, BBHTC researchers investigate how strong foundations for collaborative housing renewal can help community renewal. . .
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Waitaki short and long-term rental accommodation
This research collects and curates data about Airbnb within the Waitaki District. These data relate to housing, rents, social housing waiting lists, and accommodation sharing. Where relevant, comparative data are provided for Timaru and Ashburton Districts. Airbnb listings appear high for the size of the population and they potentially remove up to 200 houses or apartments from the rental. . .
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Betting on house prices: Housing speculation in Auckland
Until now the Income Tax Act’s intention test has not been used to curb housing speculation in Aotearoa. This Act could allow government to effectively control housing speculation. This paper uses a simplified equation to determine the initial (first-year) cash-on-cash return or net rental yield of a property in Auckland between 2002 and 2016. Each property purchased and rented was assessed as speculative or not...
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Essential workers’ bubbles: Crowding, housing affordability and tenure
Looking at housing for essential workers is important to protect our communities in the future because pandemics are likely to be more prevalent. During the COVID-19 lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand, research was done on the housing of essential workers. This bulletin highlights that a substantial number of these workers are dealing with affordability stress and some are experiencing...
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A house that is a home for whānau Māori
In conversational interviews, 27 Māori were asked what makes a house a home for whānau Māori and how housing supports whānau ora. The analysis is guided by the way the social and material environment is the source of self-identity. For Māori, this material environment extends beyond the four walls of a home and into the whenua, in acknowledgement of the importance of place for a sense of belonging. . .
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Betting on capital gains: Housing speculation in Auckland
This paper examines housing speculation in Auckland, New Zealand, the second most unaffordable market in the world. The study considers rental property purchases from 2002 to 2016 within the Auckland region. The authors apply a simple cash flow model that emulates the before-tax investment calculations used during purchasers’ due diligence. From this model, the authors determine whether...
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Too many costly homes
Aotearoa New Zealand is building more homes now than it has in the last 45 years. This is critical to make up the housing supply deficit of recent years. While more new houses are going up, they’re not necessarily ones that middle and low-income New Zealanders can afford, leaving the housing affordability crisis unresolved. It is well established that New Zealand’s building industry...
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Life when renting for older Māori
The proportion of Māori aged over 55 years living in rental accommodation is likely to rise as home ownership becomes less attainable. To examine what the future of rental accommodation may hold for older Māori, Building Better Researchers Dr Fiona Cram and Morehu Munro interviewed 42 older Māori renters in the Hawke’s Bay region of Aotearoa New Zealand about their experiences...
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Ecology of community: Socially-based tenure in urban papakāinga and cohousing
This PhD thesis explores social (or communal) tenure - systems of rights. Social tenures are a feature of many Indigenous cultures, where land and resources are managed from a collectivist, rather than an individualist, standpoint. Māori society was traditionally based around territorial tribal living, with hapū (sub-tribes) controlling and defending particular territories. . .
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Revitalising the production of affordable housing for productive, engaged & healthy...
A dwelling that is priced higher than its residents can afford is no longer a place of comfort and security but an arena of material struggle. It is associated with under-investment in many of the goods and services that generate wellbeing. It contracts rather than expands life chances, and makes social, cultural, and economic participation precarious. This publication brings together...
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Urban Regeneration and Social Cohesion
This report investigates the effectiveness of the Tāmaki Regeneration Company (TRC) project. Glen Innes was built in the 1950s, close to central Auckland, and was a primarily low socio-economic suburb, with a significant Māori population, living in State (social) housing. The TRC project saw Housing New Zealand Corporation and Auckland Council working together to replace 2,700 properties...
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Assessing environmental sustainability outcomes at neighbourhood scale
This research focusses on assessing the environmental sustainability of neighbourhoods. It further develops and tests a framework for post occupancy evaluation of the planning and delivery of a neighbourhood’s environmental sustainability. The matrix developed to examine Hobsonville Point is the underpinning methodology. It categorises environmental performance measures...
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Building for shared rental homes by non-profit community housing providers: Building...
This report is part of a study focused on building solutions that address barriers to making our building stock perform better for the needs of older people. It responds to the limited opportunities for older people to find affordable rentals. The report examines whether profits from shared rentals could be increased while providing homes that adapt to future changes in use. This report contains potential designs...
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Exploring Papakāinga: A Kaupapa Māori quantitative methodology
This paper offers a strategy for gathering and analysing large-scale data. The aim is to understand how Māori might better fulfil aspirations for the designing, financing, and building of housing, as well as perceptions of housing and papakāinga, and the contribution this has to Māori wellbeing. The researchers say a study of this kind will contribute new knowledge and better understanding of Māori...
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A really good home for our kaumātua: A toolkit for kaumātua housing
By 2040, 25% of people living in Aotearoa New Zealand will be aged 65-years and over. The He Kāinga Pai Rawa project aimed to find out what made Moa Crescent Kaumātua Village in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, a healthy housing community for Kaumātua. The result was this toolkit designed for anyone working with urban, rural, marae and other communities, who aspires to co-design and build culture-centred. . .
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Living at density in Hobsonville Point, Auckland: Resident perceptions
Over half of residential development in Auckland now involves attached housing types such as terraces and apartments. This working paper presents residents’ perceptions of living at higher density in Hobsonville Point. Despite being 2-3 times the density of a typical suburb, respondents in the survey express a reasonably high level of satisfaction with their dwelling design, and the relationships with their neighbours...
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Te Moemoeā: The Dream
Think Piece One: This first report in a series of three discusses culturally responsive, secure, affordable, and healthy housing for kaumātua. It tells the beginning story of Moa Crescent Kaumātua Village, Kirikiriroa Hamilton, which started in the early 2000s. The researchers ask: what could we learn from the stories of ‘ngā kaiwhatu moemoeā’ (visionaries) about the seeds of potential for kaumātua...
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Kia tūtuki te moemoeā: The road to making the dream/vision a reality
Think Piece Two: This report continues the story of the development of Moa Crescent Kaumātua Village, Kirikiriroa Hamilton. What could we learn from the stories of ngā kaimahi about values, decisions, and processes that enabled kaumātua housing? The journey of becoming in spiritual terms means passing through the many phases of the nights within Te Pō. In order to explore the stories...
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Te ao mārama - Kua ea te moemoeā: Achievement of the dream/vision
Think Piece Three: The third and final report in a series about culturally secure, responsive, affordable, and healthy housing for kaumātua. It explores the stories of being in the realm Te Ao Mārama: Kua ea te Moemoeā: the achievement of the dream/vision stories of kaumātua, their whānau and supporters, from Moa Crescent Kaumātua Village in Kirikiriroa Hamilton. Researchers interviewed 19 kaumātua...
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Australia and New Zealand Association of Planning Schools Conference, 1-3 November 2018
In 2018, the annual meeting of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Planning Schools (ANZAPS) was hosted by Waikato University and supported by Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge. Associate Professor Hamish Rennie, Lincoln University, reports on the event. Andrew Crisp, CEO of the new Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, presented. . .
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Concepts of Neighbourhood: A Review of the Literature
This report looks at why the concept of neighbourhood is important. Key ideas include neighbourhood planning (development, growth, and transit-oriented development), neighbourhood units and boundaries, neighbourhood walkability, neighbourhood (and in some cases residential) satisfaction, and neighbourhood change. Studies that look at both location and sociological factors will...
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Following the money: Understanding the building industry’s exit from affordable...
The NZ Productivity Commission’s 2012 report suggested the building industry has largely stopped building in the lower value segments of the housing market. This research bulletin suggests an explanation is the significant withdrawal of government capital assistance and investment in affordable housing. Although there has been a re-introduction of income related rents for state housing...
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Post-Occupancy Evaluation of neighbourhoods: A review of the literature
This report provides an overview of the application of Post-Occupancy Evaluation at the neighbourhood scale, focusing on environmental performance and liveability. Post-Occupancy Evaluation is a useful way of confirming the actual performance of the built environment. The researchers present the main international and national methodologies and examples. Existing assessment and certification...
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Revitalising the production of lower value homes: Researching dynamics and outcomes
Aggregate under-supply of new dwellings has been cited as a major contributor to New Zealand’s high house prices, falling owner occupation, and increasing numbers of households burdened with unaffordable housing. Central and local government have sought to encourage new-builds and the release of land for residential purposes. But this is not having a substantial impact on the supply of affordable...
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Medium-density dwellings in Auckland and the building regulations
National thermal standards have historically been set to minimise winter heating energy in detached houses. It is uncertain whether these standards are optimal for the increasing number of joined, medium-density dwellings when summer and winter conditions are considered. Using freely available software, annual heating energy use and summertime peak...
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Remaking community: Building principles of communal tenure into contemporary housing
Models of land administration often promote a more individualised, Western-style of tenure. The dangers are that Māori values might become diluted or even lost in this transition as social responsibilities become divorced from land rights. Recognising this, planners of some Māori land development projects have sought to reintroduce key communal or socially-based tenure principles to the planning equation...
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Investing in affordable homes
Aggregate undersupply of new dwellings has been cited as contributing to New Zealand's high house prices, falling owner occupation and increasing numbers of households burdened with unaffordable housing. While central and local government are encouraging new builds and the release of land for residential purposes, high numbers of residential new builds are not affordable housing...
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Rangahau Māori (Māori Research): An Indigenous Perspective
This paper explores the strategies being developed by Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities: He Kāinga Whakamana Tangata, Whakamana Taiao (BBHTC). BBHTC is taking an innovative approach to Māori research and development, operating across academic, cultural, and social sectors. The paper presents a model for conducting research with and for Māori, that is empowering and mutually...
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Urban Wā Kāinga: Integrating and embedding Te Aranga and Kaupapa Māori into communities
‘Urban’ is defined in relation to the characteristics of a town or city. ‘Wa Kainga’ in Māori is also known as a home. In a wider context papakainga is also used generally in the sense of traditionally Māori village-type living which has been integrated into more modern-day living. This research project aims to explore the potential of papakainga or wa kainga and understand how it can contribute...
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Resilience, ageing, and adapting to change
This report from the 2017 Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA) Conference looks at architecture and urban design as pivotal factors in successfully engaging with and solving the issues of population aging and environmental sustainability. Three big challenges were identified: the stigmatisation of aging; that fully supporting diversity requires involving more disciplines in urban design...
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Thinking about the logics of affordable new build delivery
New Zealand faces three conundrums in relation to its housing stock and the new builds which replenish it. The first is persistent under-supply of housing both in the aggregate and, more particularly, housing affordable to people and households on lower and middle incomes. The second, is misalignment between the new built stock typology and functionality in relation to the needs of...
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Can higher density enhance liveability?
A magazine article examining higher-density housing in Auckland. Higher-density housing requires quality urban development to deliver liveable, walkable communities. A National Science Challenge-funded survey in Auckland showed this is what people want from where they live. Associating enhanced liveability with higher density at first glance seems illogical. In the early part...
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Does higher density housing enhance liveability? Case studies of housing in Auckland
This paper examines how liveability is enhanced in intensified suburban contexts. Three case study areas in Auckland were used: Albany, New Lynn, and Onehunga. Key reasons for moving into higher-density housing were opportunities to form social networks, affordability, and proximity to schools, shopping, public transport, and employment. The research also examined walkability and car...
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