More housing stock the goal
The Southland Action Housing Forum will work hard to make sure the region gets a fair portion of the 8000 new public and transitional homes promised by Government in its 2020 budget, housing champion Anna Stevens says.
‘‘These homes will bring much-needed security and stability to vulnerable individuals and families.’’
The number of Southlanders in need of emergency housing was increasing, but work continues on long-term solutions, and government officials had been made aware of the need in the region, she said.
Stevens was appointed by the Southland Action Housing Forum in March to co-ordinate the forum’s efforts to address the housing crisis in Southland.
While she started during a very different crisis, Stevens said she was trying not to get bogged down by Covid-19 issues and was instead focusing on long-term solutions. ‘‘It is important to keep the long-term strategy — more available housing stock — in mind,’’ she said.
Stevens admits there’s confusion around a spike in demand the Ministry of Social Development has reported for emergency housing in recent weeks.
‘‘Everyone went into lockdown with housing,’’ she said, adding that even domestic violence numbers didn’t account for the jump. While there were still international students in Southland that required rental properties, there were no new monthly intakes arriving. The same was true for seasonal workers, she said.
Going into the winter, we were already going into a quieter period in regard to seasonal workers and tourism, so Covid-19 has yet to have an impact in that space. Anna Stevens
Southland Action Housing Forum champion
‘‘Going into the winter, we were already going into a quieter period in regard to seasonal workers and tourism, so Covid-19 has yet to have an impact in that space.’’
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) next quarterly report is due at the end of June, but Ministry of Social Development data shows a 10.3 per cent increase in accommodation supplement support beneficiaries in Southland and Otago between February and April. This translates to 19,846 people needing urgent housing help.
HUD general manager for housing Karen Hocking noted, however, that the number of families in transitional or emergency accommodation differs from the number of grants; as one family may receive multiple grants.
Hocking said emergency housing grants were typically used by people who could not remain in their place of residence and could not find suitable alternative accommodation to meet their family’s needs.
They would usually be asked to stay in emergency housing for seven days while a long-term solution was sought.
Holiday accommodation could be used for emergency housing and facilities currently housing seasonal workers could become available when their work ended, but Stevens noted that this would not address the long term problem. ‘‘Housing infrastructure isn’t an overnight project so if we don’t keep the horizon in mind then we will have the same issues when demand on housing stock — driven by tourism, students, and newcomers to the community — increases again,’’ she said. To this end, Stevens has been working on updating the 2017 Southland Community Housing Strategy report, together with Great South and other stakeholders, to get a more current view of the regional housing situation. She has been working with investors to encourage development in the region and find out what they are planning to build in relation to the demand property managers see.
‘‘We need to work with both sides of that equation to see that people are housed in homes that suit their needs,’’ Stevens said.
She noted that reduced mortgage deposit requirements would make home ownership attainable for more first-time buyers.
Strong buyer demand and an increase in new listings was a positive sign for the region’s housing market, she said.
‘‘I am also talking to those that might have under utilised accommodation to see whether there are synergies arising from the changing needs.’’
This could possibly see shortterm accommodation providers pivoting to long-term pricing strategies to keep rooms occupied. Work on the Kew Bowl site was progressing, Stevens said.
An initial concept plan had been created and resource consents were being ironed out with the Invercargill City Council before design work could be finalised. In March, Ka¯ inga Ora’s Southland area manager Gill Brown said the agency intended to build 81 houses in Southland/ Otago by the 2022/2023 financial year’s end.