Options Assessment for Delivering Affordable Housing

Options for affordable housing delivery in Arlington 

With no established organisational policy on affordable options, and a suite of approved mechanisms and tools, Kāinga Ora wanted to understand more about the options for partnership with the Community, the Community Housing Providers, and the Maori Housing sector to deliver and manage affordable housing at a key site in Arlington, Wellington. 

TUA provided advice on the needs of the community based on the demographic and market analysis undertaken for the neighbourhoods surrounding the development and Wellington region. We outlined a range of affordable housing products that Kāinga Ora could considered in addition to the government-supported rental housing, to serve the needs of the community. We also undertook a review of the tenure and typology mix and made recommendations about how to improve the initial concept design scheme. 

Because new models of affordable housing, not common in New Zealand were being proposed, in addition to the shared equity models that do exist, the challenges with delivering alternative affordable housing options were also identified. The advice identified that the key mechanisms to deliver affordable housing are: policy; finance and financial assistance; leadership, education and awareness; land use planning and strategy; construction and consenting costs, and all 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.