20 December 2019

Media: NZME (Rotorua Daily Post and BOP Times)

Topic: Housing shortage

Enquiry

Original enquiry:

I am doing a story on rising rents and the housing shortage in Rotorua. Two real estate company principals have said the RLC is stalling developments and there is too much red tape and it needs to get on board to solve the chronic housing shortage.

They refer to investors who are waiting in the wings to build three or four houses on a site and the stalling of Ashworth Villas.

I was seeking a response to that and what is the council currently doing in this space?

Council requested further information and clarification as follows:

How is RLC stalling developments?

What do they mean by too much red tape?

What do they mean by council needs to get on board to solve the chronic housing shortage - why do they think Council is currently not on board or not wanting to solve the chronic housing shortage?

What investors are waiting in the wings to build houses on a site - what site is this and what is being waited on? It will be difficult to provide a relevant response to this when you haven't told us what site is being referred to.

When you ask what council is currently doing in this space, what space are you referring to?

Further info/clarification received from reporter:

The agents have mentioned Ashworth Villas which could not get consents and had to refund the money to potential homeowners which may have onsold their homes to landlords.

I do not have an address for the developer the agent mentioned who wanted to build 3 or 4 houses on one site.

But they have said there is an absolute housing crisis in Rotorua and there was a lack of any new developments in the city due to how hard it is to get consents.

That is putting more and more pressure on the population growth and in their view it is a major issue the council needs to face up to and find a solution that works.

And when I talk about 'space' I mean the housing crisis as I know the council is working with government organisations including Housing NZ.

Response

A response (see below) was provided and the reporter was asked to kept in mind the following:

While the additional information you provided was helpful, it still had little detail and few specifics to enable us to understand what the people you spoke to mean when they claim Council is stalling developments and why they think Council would do so, what they mean by too much red tape and what they mean when they say council needs to get on board to solve the chronic housing shortage when, as you are aware, Council-led work on a housing plan is underway.

We were unable to respond to the comment regarding the investors waiting in the wings to build houses on a site as you're not able to tell us what investors or the location of the site being referred to.

Also, you said in your second email that the people you spoke to mentioned that Ashworth Villas development could not get consents but as you will be aware, because it's been reported in the Daily Post story specifically related to Ashworth Villas (see HERE if you haven't seen it), the consenting process for this is still underway. The latter is covered off in the response.

From Acting CE Craig Tiriana:

We can assure the community that Council is extremely motivated to address Rotorua's housing shortage.

Work on the development of a district housing plan is progressing well with the support of, and alongside, key Central Government agencies, iwi, landowners and developers, and others who will have a role to play. Details will be announced once finalised after the new year.

Where there are challenges, such as with the Ashworth Villas development, we will continue to work directly with developers, rather than through the media, to find solutions and progress their plans. The consenting process for the Ashworth Villas development is ongoing.

Council teams work hard to try and ensure the process is as timely as possible. Like many, we're keen to see residential development happening as quickly as possible. We acknowledge some people may consider some development requirements to be unnecessary red tape'.

However, both Council and developers have a responsibility to meet legislated requirements designed specifically to ensure the safety of people who will reside in a development and those living in surrounding areas, and to protect property and the environment from known risks.

This is particularly important as climate change and more regular storm events place additional pressure on the city's stormwater system, as one example.