TUA engaged in work for Kāinga Ora, to assist them in identifying their options for affordable housing delivery in Arlington, Wellington.
The Challenge
Kāinga Ora wanted to understand more about their options for partnerships at a key site in Arlington, Wellington. The partnerships they sought were with the community itself, community housing providers, and the Māori housing sector, in order to deliver and manage affordable housing. Up until this point, there had been no established organisational policy on affordable options, or any approved mechanisms and tools.
The Solution
TUA provided advice on the needs of the community, based on the demographic and market analysis undertaken for the neighbourhoods that surround the development and also the Wellington region.
TUA outlined a range of affordable housing products that Kāinga Ora could consider in addition to the government-supported rental housing, to serve the needs of the community. A review of the tenure and typology mix was also provided, and TUA made recommendations on how to improve the initial concept design scheme.
The Journey
Because new models of affordable housing were being proposed - ones that are not yet common in NZ - in addition to the shared equity models that do exist, the challenges of delivering alternative affordable housing options were also identified.
The advice TUA provided showed that the key mechanisms to deliver affordable housing are: policy; finance and financial assistance; leadership, education and awareness; land use planning and strategy; as well as construction and consenting costs. All of these factors should be considered in Kāinga Ora’s affordable housing strategy.
This advice helped to inform the Affordable Housing strategy and policy work that the organisation was undertaking with the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development.
