The push for one-bedroom social housing in Nelson is outpacing supply, with new figures showing single adults dominating the waiting list as demand for smaller homes continues to grow.
The latest Housing Register data shows 294 Nelson households were waiting for a social home in March this year, up from 261 at the same time last year – an increase of 33 households, or 12.6 percent.
Almost two-thirds of those applicants, 189 households, were waiting for a one-bedroom home. Another 69 households needed two bedrooms, 30 required three bedrooms, nine needed four bedrooms and three were waiting for homes with five or more bedrooms.
While Nelson’s waiting list has grown over the past year, Tasman’s has eased slightly, dropping from 150 households in March 2025 to 144 in March 2026. Demand there is also strongest for one-bedroom homes, with 87 households waiting.
Combined Housing Register and Transfer Register data obtained by the Nelson Weekly through an Official Information Act request shows there were 213 applications for one-bedroom homes across Nelson in the year to March 2026. The Housing Register includes those eligible for social housing, while the Transfer Register tracks existing tenants who need to move as their circumstances change.
The vast majority of those applicants – 198, or about 93 percent – were single adults aged 25 and over. Just nine applicants were single people aged 24 or younger, while 12 were households with two or more adults.
Men made up a slight majority of one-bedroom applicants, with 117 compared with 96 women.
The most common reason for applying was that current accommodation was inadequate or unsuitable. Homelessness and the end of a tenancy were the next most common reasons.
Both Kāinga Ora and community housing providers say they are seeing increasing demand for one-bedroom homes.
Kāinga Ora owns 210 one-bedroom state homes in Nelson city and says changing demographics are driving the need for more one-bedroom properties.
“We intend to deliver a higher proportion of one-bedroom homes throughout the country under our renewals programme and are continuing to look at cost-effective ways we can do this,” acting regional director for Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast Gabrielle Thorpe says.
Nelson Tasman Housing Trust director Carrie Mozena says well more than half of the trust’s requests over the past year have come from single people.
“There is definitely a groundswell of people over 65 who are renting and getting to retirement age.”
She says one-bedroom homes are often more difficult and expensive to build because they generate less rental income while still requiring kitchens, bathrooms and other infrastructure.
Despite those challenges, the trust is working to increase supply. Its 14-home development on Bateup Rd in Richmond, currently under construction, will include six one-bedroom homes, bringing its total number of one-bedroom homes in the Nelson Tasman region to 10.
More one-bedroom homes are also planned across Nelson.
The Salvation Army is set to deliver three new housing developments as part of a Government programme to create 99 new homes across the Top of the South.
The developments include 15 social housing units at Toi Toi St, 27 homes on Milton St and 15 homes on Rutherford St. Together they will provide 21 one-bedroom homes and are expected to be ready for tenants by mid-2027.
Carrie says while the additional homes will help, they will not be enough to meet future demand.
“All the current developments are terrific and will help, but it won't plug the gap – it's like a river, water keeps pouring in.”
