Summit agenda affordable housing

WAYS of providing affordable housing will be one of the main areas explored at a summit discussing Dunedin’s housing woes.

The summit, which will be held today, was organised by the Mayor’s Taskforce for Housing and the Dunedin City Council and is being called a starting point from which to address the problems facing the city’s housing market.

About 150 people are expected to attend the summit, including developers, land owners, community organisations, community housing providers, financial institutions, Ngai Tahu and council staff.

Taskforce chairman Cr Aaron Hawkins said the city was already facing housing challenges and there was an increasing focus on affordability for people on low and fixed incomes.

Ways of providing more affordable housing, both for renter and home buyers, would a major topic of discussion, Cr Hawkins said.

‘‘At the moment I think it’s important there isn’t a shortage of housing what we have is a shortage of affordable housing which is affecting our most vulnerable people.’’

After the summit Cr Hawkins said he hoped the taskforce would have feedback from attendees, particularly the development sector, about what can be done to help provide affordable housing.

‘‘The barriers clearly exist currently and that’s something we need to get a better handle on if we’re going to solve it.’’

Demand for housing, accommodation and labour would grow in the coming years as major projects, especially the hospital rebuild and planned develop ment at the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic, started, he said.

It was critical those successes were not soured by exacerbating existing issues.

Feedback and information from the summit would help develop the taskforces’s final recommendations to the council later this year.