Shout out for housing timetable

Wellington City leaders want to see housing projects get underway sooner rather than later.

Yesterday, city councillors asked their staff questions about the housing strategy and city housing policy review, which they will debate tomorrow during a city strategy committee meeting.

Although most of their questions were answered in public, others about costs and council process were referred to a behind closed-doors workshop, which was held after the meeting.

The council’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan (Ship) aims to deliver 750 new social and affordable housing units over the next 10 years.

During yesterday’s briefing, councillors asked when they would see construction start. They urged staff to set milestones and ensure all of the projects would not all be built in year 10.

‘‘You have lots of policy and strategy work happening but we need to build, when is this going to happen?" Iona Pannett asked.

Sarah Free and Diane Calvert asked staff to set some short-tomedium term goals for building, with a timeline of actions and outcomes. ‘‘We have got a 10-year vision and it’s pretty aspirational,’’ Calvert said.

Andy Foster asked about the economics of developing social housing. ‘‘It is pretty clear we are struggling a little bit with trying to build good quality houses and we are getting a 70 per cent market return . . . and the numbers don’t work. How do we make it work?’’

His question was not answered in during in-public portion of the meeting, with a staffer telling him it would be discussed in the councillor-only workshop.

Foster also asked about the status of an Urban Development Agency (UDA), and about the role of council’s Build Wellington team. ‘‘I’m interested in where we are, given the amount of money

Iona Pannett

we are putting into [Build Wellington].’’

Council chief city planner David Chick told Foster that a councillor-only workshop in August or September would answer most of his questions.

In the meantime, the council was having ongoing discussions with the Government about its UDA plans, which the council hoped to align with.

Fleur Fitzsimons asked about the Wellington Housing Affordability Model (Wham), which calculates housing affordability using living costs, less housing costs of a household.

She questioned if there was any potential for the affordability model to be used beyond city housing and if it would it be used as a criteria for engaging with developers.

Staff were hoping to get back to the council later this year or possibly next year.