Southland's housing problem... A complex conversation
“Our current houses don’t meet our current needs, so how are we going to meet future population needs?”
Southland has a housing problem. Of course, that’s no revelation.
For many years the discussion that is the region’s housing shortage has bubbled away.
A Southland Housing Indication Report in 2021 estimated there was a housing shortage of around 1659 houses.
From the outside looking in, the solution seems simple. Free up some land, loosen up some regulation, and get some more houses built promptly.
Beyond 2025 project lead Bobbi Brown suggests it’s complex though.
She addressed the Invercargill City Council this week at a workshop when she outlined Southland’s housing situation and the work that Beyond 2025 - which is aligned to Great South - is doing around it.
The Invercargill City Council is currently discussing what role it may play around housing as part of its long-term plan.
Brown says the headline shouldn’t be that Southland is “X number” of houses short at the moment.
“It’s not about numbers, it’s about our demographic makeup,” Brown says.
Brown rolled out a close to hour-long presentation full of numbers and data which delved into that.
“There are really large gaps between the housing stock and the needs of different age-groups, and particularly the ageing population,” Brown says.
53% of Southland’s housing stock are three-bedroom homes, compared to 43% nationally.
At the moment there are on average 2.6 people per house in Southland, but that is expected to drop to 2.1 as the population continues to age.
“If we have lots of single older folk, we will need more houses…. If you have lots of families you need less houses. It’s about how we are as a community and demographic makeup that’s really important.
“We are going to have more older people in the future, any scenario shows that. Southland already has a higher aging population than other parts of the country.
“Our current houses don’t meet our current needs, so how are we going to meet future population needs?”
“My mother lives in Gore, she’s in the three-bedroom family home, she can’t find a suitable one- or two-bedroom house that’s warm close to town with her friends. So, she’s stuck in that family home that could be freed up for families, but it’s not.”
Many migrant workers also do not want three-bedroom homes, preferring one- or two-bedroom places without the garden upkeep.
While more older people are on the lookout for options to downsize, in the social housing space there is an increased demand for three bedrooms-plus homes.
Between 2016 and 2020 the social housing waitlist doubled. By 2021 the increase was 75%.
A third of the applicants indicated they need three or more bedrooms.
Kainga Ora currently has 446 houses in Southland, with 24 homes under construction and a further 38 being investigated.
Just to highlight the complexity of Southland’s housing problem, and how wide-ranging it is, a lack of executive housing has also been identified as a problem.
One business stated it lost its CEO because of a lack of appropriate housing options in Invercargill.
In general, many businesses indicated they were struggling to attract staff because of housing.
Part of the problem was the “poor quality” of Southland’s housing stock, according to research findings.
72% of Southland’s dwellings were built prior to 1980, compared to a national average of 47%. Not surprisingly Central Otago was at 37%.
Did we say it is complex?
More up-to-date data is expected to land to help shape Beyond 2025’s work further.
But it seems the type of housing that is built is just as important in addressing problems, as is the share number of builds. Particularly as Southland’s population continues to age.