The Christchurch City Council is proposing to regulate what they call ‘home share accommodation’ through the District Plan. This approach presumes that the resource management issue is a land use problem, when in reality it’s a technology problem. Defining home share accomodation as something different from ‘normal’ residential accommodation is a seemingly arbitrary activity based […]
Category: Housing
Buried in Attachment A for Item 5 of the Dunedin City Council Meeting Agenda from 6 May 2019 is: Action 1.4: The Council becomes a member of the ‘Cities for Adequate Housing’ and implements housing as a human right and ends homelessness in Dunedin. Housing Action Plan for Dunedin, April 2019 The Cities for Adequate […]
I’m a big fan of Universal Design. Lifemark, a commercial division of CCS Disability Action, is a well known advocate for universal design in NZ. The Lifemark Design Standards focus on dwellings and are based on the following five key principles: Usable Adaptable Accessible Safe Lifetime value The seven principles of universal design are much […]
In May 2019 townhouses comprised 25% of all dwellings consented. But what exactly is a townhouse? Town house A tall, narrow traditional terraced house, generally having three or more floors. A multi-storey house in a modern housing development which is attached to one or more similar houses by shared walls. Google, 2019 I don’t see […]
The recently released Framework for Housing Quality from Stats NZ defines four elements of housing quality: Habitability Environmental sustainability Functionality Social and cultural sustainability Interestingly, the location of a house affects all four of these elements and has a significant impact on overall housing quality. Habitability Habitable houses are physically safe, secure and healthy. Environmental […]
There are currently two landmark housing programmes in New Zealand. One is the somewhat infamous Kiwibuild and the other a lesser known KiwiBuy. But there is an older approach to housing affordability not discussed much these days. Kiwibuild The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development states that KiwiBuild has three core aims: increase home ownership […]