Council talks housing with Kãinga Ora
Christchurch City Council is talking with Ka¯inga Ora about options for alternative housing in the central city.
Alternative housing includes projects that do not follow the standard market-led, for-profit housing model and could include community housing, co-housing, rentto-own or shared equity schemes.
The council has stated its intention to support these models and its head of urban regeneration, design and heritage, Carolyn Ingles, said it had spoken generally with Ka¯ inga Ora about the idea.
Ka¯inga Ora was a major provider of social housing, ‘‘which may be included within the broad definition of alternative housing’’, Ingles said.
Ka¯inga Ora owns about 6500 properties in Christchurch, of which about 100 are in the central city.
The city council has a stated goal of 20,000 central city residents by 2028, as part of Project 8011.
It is thought about 7100 people were living in the central city as of June last year.
An example of alternative housing already developed in the city was the co-operative housing development Peterborough Village, which had 14 units that
opened out to a communal green space.
Trystan Swain, who lives at the village with his partner Adriana, said he thought the living arrangements cost about 25 per cent less than a normal house.
The village presently had a diverse mix of people and had a real sense of life, Swain said.
All the units were tenanted, he said. City councillors from across the political divide supported diversifying housing within the central city.
Cr James Gough, of the Right-leaning Independent Citizens group, said all options that would boost residential numbers should be looked at.
‘‘Luxury options on one hand are great, but there is obviously a somewhat limited pool of people in that market.’’
Gough described affordable and accessible central city housing as ‘‘critical’’.
Cr Jake McLellan, who represents the central city and is of the Left-leaning People’s Choice group, said ‘‘a good mix of housing types’’ was needed to reach the 20,000 resident goal.
‘‘I see alternative housing models as some of the possible solutions to ensure our city is accessible to a range of home buyers.
‘‘I would hate to see first home buyers and social housing locked out of our city core.’’
City council documents show staff believed ‘‘interest and market confidence’’ for central city housing was growing.
In the past two years, 676 homes had been built in the central city – more than what was built in the eight years after the earthquakes.
The supply of homes in the residential east frame, a post-quake anchor project, was lagging behind demand.
In one scenario modelled by the city council, it expected home-building in the central city to only increase further.
Under this scenario, which assumed an average of two people occupying each household, the council expected about 450 homes built in the central city this year, followed by 650 in 2022, 1000 in 2023 and a peak of 1400 in 2024.
After 2024, the number of new central city homes each year would begin decreasing again, under this scenario.