“Housing affordability has worsened significantly in Te Tairāwhiti since 2016 when affordability peaked.
“Rental affordability, based on the ratio of average weekly rent to average household income, is worse in Te Tairāwhiti than for New Zealand as a whole (22.3 percent for Te Tairāwhiti; 21.8 percent nationally) and rental affordability in Te Tairāwhiti has significantly worsened over the past three years.
“Affordability of homes is a key concern for many whānau.”
The steering group said the FDS did not go far enough to address how intensification would deliver more affordable housing in Tairāwhiti.
“The steering group would like to see future work focused on the housing typologies and how these will suit the demands of households, particularly lower-income households.
“The supply of infrastructure to support development needs to be confirmed and funded. If the full cost of infrastructure upgrades is passed on to the developer, the cost of housing will continue to increase.
“Having a clear and aspirational infrastructure plan will assist council to seek external funding.
“The steering group considers that the FDS lacks significant commentary regarding affordability, in particular, how the strategy of intensification can deliver relatively more affordable housing in Tairāwhiti/Gisborne.”
Without that “the housing affordability challenges for Tairāwhiti/Gisborne will continue”.
The FDS uses population projections from the council’s Housing and Business Assessment which anticipates “that we will need to provide for an extra 1280 dwellings in the short term, 2570 dwellings in the medium term and 5360 dwellings in the long term within Gisborne’s urban areas”.
The use of those projections were welcomed in the submission.
However, it saw a potential issue with the council’s preferred option for all objectives to be structured under an overarching Te Oranga o te Taiao (wellbeing of the environment) objective — “Growth and Development must revitalise and enhance Te Oranga o te Taiao”.
“The steering group understands and recognises the importance of Te Oranga o te Taiao. However, having it as an overarching objective and with the current wording will be problematic in practice. . . . the current wording sets a difficult outcome for developers to achieve at the land use and resource consent level.”
The steering group also submitted that tree protection rules be included in the Tairāwhiti Resource Management Plan (TRMP) review in the short term to avoid any additional loss of tree canopy.
“Planting of street trees should be mandatory for any new roads required in greenfield development. Retrospective planting of street trees should be high priority within road reserves, and this should be scheduled to align with infrastructural upgrades that may require earthworks within the road reserve.
“A key design principle in Te Tairāwhiti Regional Housing Strategy 2022-2027 is culturally appropriate homes.
The steering group promotes housing developments that are planned and designed in ways that reflect cultural identity.
Māori architectural principles should be a core part of housing design, enabling Māori to live well in and be proud of their homes.
“The steering group wants to see the adoption of kaupapa Māori urban design principles in planning our urban areas. Iwi engagement during development of the draft FDS highlighted that iwi/hapū/whānau narratives should be reflected in their spaces.
“The steering group wants to see mana whenua inputs and values reflected in the planning and design of housing. These should be carried through into the TRMP review and be included in a set of design guidelines.”
The council meets today to discuss adopoting the FDS.
