More focus needed on strategy and design in housing crisis solutions

On Wednesday 6 September, the New Zealand Institute of Architecture hosted “The Homesick Blues: Political parties on housing remedies” election panel. It emerged that there is a clear desire to see significantly more action from the next government across a range of factors that affect housing solutions across the housing spectrum.

Representing the Māori Party, Carrie Stoddart-Smith (Pakuranga candidate) says, “There is a lot that we can learn and achieve through direct engagement with the wider housing sector and the community to address housing needs in New Zealand. It is evident that we need to design a strategy that looks at the whole housing spectrum and the different supports and services needed as people progress through the different stages to achieve housing security.”

The Māori Party has made a commitment to establish a Housing Sector Committee within the first three months of the next parliament to design a 25 year National Housing Strategy taking into account any Te Tiriti o Waitangi considerations.

Stoddart-Smith says, “I’ve spoken with experts in the sector from architects to trades people to the corporate end of building supplies and materials. I’ve also spoken with people directly engaged in work to reduce rough sleeping and homelessness in our communities. They all agree that without proper coordination and a clear vision and plan that we will continue to experience the setbacks, inaction and poor outcomes that we have over the past 40 years that led to this crisis.”

She thinks the design of homes, particularly state homes and whether they meet the needs of whānau is often overlooked in the discussions. Some whānau are left on waiting lists because homes are too small and therefore not fit for purpose.

Stoddart-Smith says, “Little consideration has been given to how we might redesign some of these homes, which are often built on generous portions of land, to accommodate cultural living arrangements such as extended family living.”

“Supporting community and iwi organisations who have the capacity and capability to manage a proportion of our social housing is one way to address this issue. Many Māori and Pasifika whānau choose extended family living arrangements, but the design of homes is based around the western ideal of the nuclear family.”

The Māori Party proposes to support cultural practices of extended whānau living arrangements to accommodate whānau housing needs by establishing an independent design review panel for all HNZC, urban regeneration and KWIG/Māori housing fund applicants.

On the back of a conversation with an attendee at the event, Stoddart-Smith is keen to explore how we might better support people who wish to live in tiny homes or other alternative living arrangements such as small housing clusters with some shared facilities similar to a papakāinga. She thinks it could be a potentially attractive option for those wanting housing security but who are priced out the current housing market.

She says, “Often people wanting or choosing tiny homes options are also driven by a desire to reduce their environmental impact, so the choice is not simply an affordability issue.”

“I firmly believe people should have a right to determine the design of their homes for themselves. What we need is to make sure that we are providing the right support to meet their design and housing needs and ensuring we put in place appropriate safeguards to prevent potentially exploitative practices in an overstretched rental market.”

ENDS

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