A bold District Plan will free us from our housing doom loop
Friday, 2 February 2024
Eleanor West is a volunteer for City for People, a coalition of individuals and organisations working together to advocate for affordable housing in Wellington.
OPINION: More homes, in the right places, is an obvious win-win for Wellington councillors. The new District Plan is an opportunity for councillors to break our city free from its doom loop – they must take decisive action and change the zoning rules that are choking the supply of new homes.
It feels like we’re drowning in different crises right now, but it’s the housing crisis that continues to be the root of our problems. Everyone with commonsense, regardless of their political persuasion, agrees that the current situation is untenable. Many Wellingtonians can’t afford to buy homes in the neighbourhoods they grew up in, and ever-rising rents are burning holes in people’s wallets – money they could be spending on groceries. Student enrolments are dropping and critical workers, like our nurses, are fleeing the city.
Ten years ago, Housing Minister Nick Smith said “we have got a constipated planning system, bogging new residential construction”. It’s time for some fibre: zoning reform.
Our city is growing well, but housing supply is struggling to keep up because zoning rules are suppressing home-building in the best places to live. It’s absolutely wild that – in the capital of our nation – 88% of residential land parcels within walking distance of the city centre are zoned for low density only, meaning it’s nigh on impossible to build anything other than a two-storey, detached, single-family houses.
The laws of supply and demand apply to houses in the same way they apply to other goods – just like eggs, and kūmara. When demand is high but supply is constrained, people are forced to compete with each other, driving up prices. Over the last decade, Wellington has issued consents for new homes at half the rate of Christchurch and Auckland, when adjusted for population.
It’s no wonder we’ve lost control of the housing market.
If we can unlock housing supply, we can unlock housing affordability – it’s boring, basic, Economics 101. Wellington’s new District Plan is a golden opportunity to change the zoning rules and enable more homes to be built.
Our current housing rulebook is an ageing mess of regulations from the early 90s that’s holding back our city from its potential. Surely, removing unnecessary regulations and letting people choose to use their property more productively (within reason) should be bread and butter issues for right-wing politicians? And yet in current council debates, it’s right-of-centre councillors protecting the status quo, while left-of-centre councillors push for sensible zoning changes. It’s like we’ve gone through the looking glass.
Wellington can’t keep kicking this can down the road – the housing crisis will only get worse over time. Fixing the zoning rules should be an obvious win-win for both sides. Councillors of all stripes must work together and pass a sensible new District Plan for Wellington. They need to be forward-thinking, and secure the win-win for all of us. The new plan must do five important things.
First, raise building height limits in the city centre or remove them all together. More apartments, with more people, would help the centre of Wellington thrive. But right now the height limits in this zone are too low – often only six storeys in the heart of the capital!
Second, “walkable” should mean at least 15 minutes. The government has said the council must allow buildings of at least six-storeys within “walkable catchments” of urban centres and “mass rapid transit” stops (public transport stops with frequent services) – great! This enables more homes in the well-connected suburbs where people want to live. But the council can decide what the “walkable” radius is. Anything less than 15 minutes would be an insult to Wellingtonians. For us, that’s a mere stroll.
Third, acknowledge the obvious: the Johnsonville train line and the Newtown bus are both public transport routes with frequent services. Meaning they are indeed mass rapid transit routes, and the surrounding zoning should reflect this.
Fourth, apply the medium-density residential standards consistently. We can’t cram all the new housing into a short section of Adelaide Rd – it’s not a Tardis. Allowing property owners citywide to choose to build three homes of up to three-storeys on their sections – “gentle density” – is the fairest option. We’ve seen this kind of broad zoning change work in Auckland, with more homes meaningfully lowering rents.
Fifth, keep special character areas the same size agreed in the Spatial Plan. Some older parts of Wellington are worth preserving, but these protected areas should be an appropriate size. Let’s keep the really good stuff, but also allow new homes in the places where people want to live, close to the city centre.
Our city is desperate for more homes. Councillors need to get their act together and pass a sensible plan for Wellington. We’re all counting on them.