Council this week considers the biggest reform in decades to Nelson’s planning rules, called Plan Change 29. The goal is to make housing more accessible and affordable. It also makes changes to better manage the risks of earthquakes, floods and climate change.
Housing is one of Nelson’s biggest problems. We don’t have enough and they are too expensive. We see it with the increasing number of homeless people, the decline in home ownership, the struggle for young families to pay rent or a mortgage and the difficulty for businesses to find housing for new staff.
Changing planning rules to enable more housing is difficult and slow. People often oppose allowing more intensive housing in their street or housing developments in their semi-rural neighbourhood due to NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard). Nelson’s population is forecast to increase by about 12,000 by 2050 and this is about how we accommodate that growth.
International research shows planning controls hugely affect housing affordability. NZ studies show that it is the price of land rather than the building that has made housing so unaffordable. Mark Twain’s quote: “Buy land, they are not making it anymore,” sums it up. Our historic planning rules required quarter-acre (1000 square metre) sections. We need to be much more flexible in regulating future housing due to our growing population, the need to protect our productive land and to manage risks such as climate change.
Plan Change 29 means having much more diversity in housing – more multi-storey apartments, townhouses and infill housing as well as new greenfield developments. The devil is in the detail.
I know these proposed changes will be controversial from my work as Housing and Environment Minister when I led similar changes in Auckland with its new Unitary Plan in 2016. The key to its success was encouraging submissions. We need Nelsonians’ input so we get the right rules in the right place. We need to enable quality developments, keep costs affordable and maintain the characteristics that make Nelson such a great place to live.
These reforms are critical to fixing the housing problem. It won’t be easy but it is so important for Nelson’s future.
