The city of Tauranga is facing a severe housing crisis due to its growing population and this has left many locals struggling to put a roof over their heads.

The issue has persisted over many years and has not seen significant improvement.

“Housing is a moral issue,” says Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell. “One of the most important things we can do is to fix our housing crisis.

“Our collective failure to build enough houses has trapped people in poverty, it has increased inequality, it has made us poorer, and it has shattered the Kiwi dream of a property-owning democracy,” he says.

Putting a roof over our heads shouldn’t be this hard.

“We have seen this in Tauranga where we have failed to build enough houses to accommodate our rapidly growing population, and as a result, Tauranga is one of the most expensive places to buy and rent in New Zealand,” says Sam.

Tauranga is a city bursting with opportunities, especially for younger people, however, the housing crisis and the living cost crisis have made it impossible for the younger generations to see owning a house as a possibility.

“The Government’s ‘Going for Housing Growth’ policy will remove constraints on urban limits that are holding our cities back, fix infrastructure funding and financing, and introduce incentives to encourage cities and regions to go for growth,” says Sam.

“In Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty, this means expanding housing into the Western Corridor, developing Te Tumu and Ōmokoroa, and intensifying along the Te Papa Peninsula.

“Zoning more land by itself isn’t enough. Councils need new tools to fund infrastructure.”

However, the question is, how much longer is this going to take? The citizens of Tauranga have already been struggling for years.

The Government might make a housing growth policy, but within that time, people will continue to struggle.

Additionally, how is this going to be paid for? Are taxes going to increase? The situation may be bad, but it has to get worse before it gets better. How much more of this can Tauranga locals take?

“TCC will struggle to fund the necessary infrastructure because they are at or near their debt limit,” says Sam.

When a representative of the council was asked if this was true, Tauranga City Council city planning and growth manager Andrew Mead says, “Simply yes, yes it is correct.”

An aerial view of Tauranga.

Andrew says, in a council meeting they had last week regarding the long-term plan, “There are some broader affordability concerns with the amount of debt that we’re able to have and the amount that rates can increase.

“This means that a significant amount of expenditure to open up new growth areas has not been able to be contained in the 10 years of our upcoming long-term plan.

“So that mainly affects the Te Tumu urban growth area which is roughly planned for about 6500 homes and it also affects the Keenan Road urban growth area which is probably 2500-3000 homes.

“In addition, a significant amount of intents of infrastructure to support intensification has to be removed as well, so like storm water upgrades and that kind of stuff.”

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell says, “We will provide new financing tools to enable councils to provide the infrastructure necessary to increase housing supply.

Andrew says the council works within a range of debt ratios that they have to maintain and ensure they don’t exceed.

“We can’t exceed those [debt ratios] or the credit rating will be downgraded, the cost of borrowing goes up and all those sorts of factors,” says Andrew.

“We’re acting prudently for the broader community and also ensuring that we can contribute to invest for current residents as well as growth.

“We’re not able to deliver everything, it’s a common theme across New Zealand, and it’s certainly not a Tauranga-only issue. Hamilton is in a very similar position.

 “One of the key issues that has made it a lot harder, has been the removal of the previous government’s Three Water reforms.

“They were going to take responsibility for all the Three Waters investment and we’ve had to bring that back into the LTP which has reduced our ability to invest in other things.”

Andrew confirms the council want to deliver this infrastructure and open up these growth areas, however, it’s an issue of affordability.

“We are trying our best to use alternative funding of the normal council processes to enable these things to come forward, but at this stage, that funding is not locked in for these growth areas.”

So what does all of this mean for the public who are struggling in Tauranga’s housing crisis?

“I guess this means that in Tauranga there is going to be a continued kind of imbalance between the supply of new houses and the demand for new houses, so that is going to continue to put pressure on the availability of rental houses and will probably continue to put pressure on house prices as well.”

Andrew ensures that they are aware of the situation and it’s not a situation that they want to be in, so they are trying to find other solutions to try to address the issue.

“It is important to recognise that the council is still investing a lot to open up new growth areas, so it’s not like no new housing will be delivered.

“The investment is focused in the Tauriko West area to open up the first 2400 homes there; and the investment in the Pāpāmoa East interchange to open up the last 3000 odd homes in the Wairakei urban growth area.

“Then there are going to be changes to our planning rules to enable a lot more intensification across the city, so that’s going to open up a lot of housing opportunities that didn’t exist previously.

“So there still a lot of new housing that will continue to come into the market, just not quite enough compared to what we need,” says Andrew.

“The previous government made it very expensive to be a landlord and ultimately these costs were passed on to tenants.

“Improvements to the rental market will make it easier to be a landlord, and easier to be a tenant.”

“Restoring interest deductibility and supplying more houses will reduce upward pressure on prices in the rental market.”

Until these steps are taken, the situation will worsen while Tauranga locals wait for more housing.

“We will streamline building consents to make construction more efficient, strengthen competition for building materials, ensure the sector can access the workers it needs with appropriate immigration settings and trades training, and support research and the use of technology to deliver better results,” says Sam.

“We will harness digital technology to put building consents on a fast track and speed up the issue of Code Compliance Certificates by requiring certificates to be issued within five working days after a building passes final inspection.

“We are committed to increasing competition for building materials by granting automatic approvals for appropriately certified building materials from overseas.

“Products that meet European, American, British and Australian standards will be automatically approved for use in New Zealand.

“For too long in New Zealand it’s been too hard to build things. The consenting process is inefficient, untimely and expensive.

“Reforming the Resource Management Act is a key part of improving the consenting times for building houses.

“We have already repealed the burdensome Natural and Built Environment Act and the Spatial Planning Act.

“We are moving ahead with a stand-alone act to enable fast-track consenting to facilitate development of infrastructure and housing of national or regional significance.

“There are several key projects in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty that we are focussed on enabling through this legislation. Finally, we will improve the social housing model.”

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell.

The city centre is dead and road works are never ending; the housing crisis is the cherry on top.

“For too long those that need support haven’t been able to get it,” says Sam.

“You only need to look at the motel and homelessness situation to appreciate that urgent action is needed here.

“We are committed to developing solutions to address our social housing situation in Tauranga.”

“Past governments have left housing in the too-hard basket,” says the minister of housing Chris Bishop.

“As the Prime Minister has rightly said, this government is going to make the tough decisions in the national interest so we can get our mojo back as a nation,” says Chris.

“Part of that includes finally addressing the national disgrace that is our broken housing market.

“If we get this right, we will all be wealthier, more prosperous and better off,” says Chris.

“The people of Tauranga will be major benefactors of this new approach and as your local MP I am determined to address the housing crisis we face here,” says Sam.