Support role for council
As the region sits in the midst of a housing crisis, the Southland District Council can do little but support an action group that is taking the lead to address the problem.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Southland district councillors discussed how the council could take a role in addressing Southland’s housing problem.
Council group manager community and futures Rex Capil told councillors the role of the council in addressing the housing shortage was not to provide houses but to decide how it could help deal with the issue affecting residents and support the Southland Housing Action Forum.
If the council did not take stock and focus or target its actions, it would not have a significant impact, Capil said.
The council could possibly provide land for the Government to build on but also there could be a focus around improving efficiencies around building and consents teams at the council, he said.
Cr Ebel Kremer said the council could assist the Government to identify sections of land it could purchase to then build on.
There had been a lot of conversations on the Te Anau Community Board because it was an acute problem for the township, Kremer said.
Council did not have to own the property but it could help to enable development, he said.
Cr John Douglas echoed Kremer in saying that the council had a key role in supporting the process to build houses.
‘‘It’s the ease of doing business, it’s greasing the wheels, it’s making sure council is not being seen as a handbrake.’’
Cr Darren Frazer said the consequence of not being part of the process with the housing action forum was that Southland would not get the population growth it needed, leading to a lack of people to fill jobs.
‘‘Housing is one of those critical things for us [the council] to achieve our goals.’’
No new housing would mean putting people into substandard housing or lead to a hot-bedding situation, much like Queenstown suffered from, Frazer said.
Cr Paul Duffy asked whether it was the role of the council to purchase vacant private land in Southland to then sell to the Government for housings projects.
Mayor Gary Tong said the council had enough land without banking any more.
On January 31, Tong, along with other council staff, met with representatives from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to talk specifically about consents, zoning and intensification.
Capil said council group manager environmental services Bruce Halligan identified townships within the district where land was available, which the Government could purchase directly off private owners for the officials.