Family matters
A Nelson man extols the virtues of making it easier to build unsubdivided second dwellings.
Taking his mentally ill son’s care into his own hands has led a Nelson man to extol the virtues of second dwellings in meeting the region’s housing demand.
David Barnes and his wife Jennifer share their Stoke property with David’s parents, who live downstairs, as well as their 33-year-old son Samuel.
Despite the extra guests, Barnes said he wouldn’t have it any other way and was in favour of making it easier for others in his situation to build an unsubdivided second dwelling on existing properties.
‘‘Right at the moment housing is a big topic – but there are a lot of solutions and this is one of them,’’ Barnes said.
Samuel has suffered from schizoaffective disorder since his early teens, which has seen him in and out of mental health care in Nelson and Christchurch, including a 12-month stay as an inpatient at Hillmorton Hospital.
As a way of giving their son a settled environment close to his family, the Barneses made the decision last year to build a selfcontained cottage at the rear of the property.
‘‘We thought, ‘We’ve got to do something for Samuel.’ With our parents living here we couldn’t have him in the house, so we thought, ‘Right, we’ll build a cottage on the property for him.’’’
Building and resource management consent was obtained, but Barnes had to explain their reasons for building it.
The build, designed and built by Versatile Homes and Buildings, cost $110,000 and took about three months to complete.
‘‘There are a lot of families like us and I think if they had half a chance to do something on their property to look after their relatives, they’d grab it.’’
Under the Building Act 2004, buildings that are additional to a dwelling (such as sleepouts) and are used in connection with a dwelling, have a floor area of less than 10 square metres, have no sanitary facilities or potable water storage, and are not closer than its own height to any residential building or legal boundary do not require building consent.
Building coverage of the net area of any property in lower density areas such as Stoke must not exceed 30 per cent.
Barnes’ section is 607sqm, while the house is 270sqm over two floors.
The one-bedroom second dwelling, measuring about 30sqm, contains a toilet, kitchen, lounge and ensuite bathroom.
‘‘We did get special dispensation because it’s still too big,’’ Barnes said.
When Samuel was discharged from Hillmorton Hospital in October 2016, he was able to return to a home of his own, albeit in his parents’ backyard.
Nelson City councillor Matt Lawrey was supportive of Barnes’ suggestion and had campaigned on the idea of ‘‘second suites’’ in 2016 after being turned on to it by architect Peter Olorenshaw.
‘‘The way we are going to do fix the housing crisis is through accommodation,’’ he said.
‘‘One of the ways is by building more state houses, but another big way of doing it is by getting smarter with the way we’re using privately owned land. The glory of these second dwellings is that you’re actually giving people the opportunity to build on land that is effectively free.
‘‘One of the major problems with building in parts of New Zealand where a lot of people want to live, like Nelson, is the cost of the land. So you take that out of the equation and building a studio or two-bedroom dwelling becomes a lot more affordable.’’