Council acts for Capital's housing supply

Thirteen further sites to enable housing development in Wellington have been approved for consideration by Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith as part of the Housing Accord.

The City Council entered into a Housing Accord with Government in June 2014 that aims to support an increase in housing supply and improve housing affordability. The Accord sets ambitious targets for the number of dwellings and sections to be consented and built across the city over the next five years.

The Council’s Housing Accord with Government enables early identification of sites for the development of housing, aiming to increase housing supply in Wellington.

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says the Housing Accord is one important tool for the Council for increasing housing supply across the city. It complements the Council’s wider housing programme, and aligns with the Council’s growth agenda as set out in the 10-year Plan.

“Wellington is building fewer homes than is needed to meet our forecast population growth,” says the Mayor. “The latest tranche of Special Housing Areas will streamline the process for housing development to meet the Capital’s needs.

“Most sites already had zoning that could allow residential development without any public notification.

“The Housing New Zealand sites will allow redevelopment of better social housing. The Erskine and Shelly Bay sites have languished for decades and the changes may provide the necessary catalyst for improvements.”

The Housing Accord allows Council to streamline regulations to encourage housing development with incentives for developers to build more homes quickly under the new process. Special Housing Areas are identified where resource consents can be fast-tracked to enable more homes to be built.

Background:

The list to be recommended to the Minister of Building and Housing for establishment by Order in Council:
· 135 Britomart Street, Berhampore – Housing New Zealand

· 175 Owen Street, Newtown – Housing New Zealand

· McLean Flats, 320A The Terrace – Housing New Zealand

· 74 Helston Road, Paparangi – privately owned

· 30 White Pine Avenue, Woodridge – privately owned

· Erskine College, Island Bay – privately owned

· Reedy Land, 28 Westchester Drive, Glenside – privately owned

· Shelly Bay – Wellington City Council/Shelly Bay Ltd

· Spenmoor Street, Newlands – privately owned

· 289-293 Mansfield Street and Princess Street, Newtown – Wellington City

· Council

· One site combining 98 Westchester Drive, Churton Park, 34 Winsley Terrace and 150 and 184 Ohariu Valley Road – privately owned

· 224 Westchester Drive – privately owned

· 383-387 Adelaide Road, Newtown – privately owned

The Council, listening to local knowledge, voted to remove the following sites from the list:
· 24A Freeling Street, Island Bay – privately owned

· Tapu Te Ranga Marae, Island Bay – privately owned

· 131 Silverstream Road, Crofton Downs – privately owned

Eight previous SHAs were recommended by the Council in August 2014 for
nomination to the Minister of Housing. These areas were approved. These sites focused on the existing growth areas of the city, namely:
· the greenfield areas of Lower Stebbings and Lincolnshire-Woodridge

· the Johnsonville and Kilbirnie medium density residential areas

· Adelaide Road (Mount Cook Centre zone)

· Two parts of the central city referred to as Central Area North and

Central Area South – in Thorndon and Te Aro

· Arlington Apartments site, Mt Cook.

ends

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