Kiwi tenants can expect stiff competition for rental properties as the number of properties to choose from has dropped 50 per cent in the past year, according to the latest Trade Me Property Rental Index.
There'll be no quick fix to Whanganui's rental housing crisis despite moves by the Government to address its causes. Salvation Army national practice manager Jono Bell said affordable rentals were hard to come by in most regions.
Experts say that preconceptions about prefabrication, a construction industry who’s DNA is hard-wired to the hammer and nail, and a lack of interest from local and central government appear to be denying the country the opportunity to really tackle the housing crisis and build a lasting solution. They say technology is the answer to getting the number of houses needed.
Fifteen hectares of unused land in the low socio-economic area of Flaxmere in Hawke's Bay will be turned into New Zealand's first indigenous co-housing development called the Waingakau Village Project.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford was presented an open letter signed by thousands of New Zealanders supporting moves to improve the lives of people who rent. The delivery came on the day that the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill was debated in Parliament.
The Housing First model has taken around 1,000 people off the street and put them into houses in Hamilton and Auckland in the last three years.
Community Housing Aotearoa say it is pleased to see the Ministry of Social Development continue to publish informative data on social housing but is concerned that the level of social housing need continues to increase.
A West Coast District Health Board social worker has raised concerns about the lack of accommodation in Hokitika leading to people "sleeping rough" including one person who was found living under the Hokitika Bridge.
Jose Timmerman said she was currently working with three clients who urgently needed accommodation, including the person who was sleeping under the bridge.
A homeless man in Tauranga says getting on a waiting list for social housing has given him a chance to get somewhere to live and be a part of society. But for him and others who have turned their lives around in the Tauranga Moana Nightshelter hope is turning to frustration.
At least five women, plus several children, are being evicted from a former motel bought by the Government last year for emergency housing in Napier.
Three have been given a week's notice to vacate by today, and a protest will be held near the facilities, with housing advocates saying the situation is another consequence of a crisis caused by the loss of more than 100 houses and units demolished, removed or closed by Housing NZ.
