Abstract
Housing adequacy is enshrined as a human right and consists of affordability, suitability,
habitability, tenure security, freedom from crowding and freedom from discrimination. With
urbanization and the growth of cities, housing adequacy is becoming increasingly neglected.
Instead, attempts to address housing issues focus on housing econometrics and affordability.
Literature, both international and national has understood the need to address housing issues,
however, has struggled to find consensus on an effective framework for addressing them.
Mitigating the negative effects from housing issues represents a major challenge for planning
as it looks to manage urban growth with social sustainability.
The key objective of the research was to investigate housing adequacy issues in Auckland using
the concept of housing adequacy as a framework to formulate planning responses. The aims of
the research were to investigate the nature and extent of housing adequacy issues in Auckland
in order to understand how they contribute to the city’s housing crisis. Included in this aim was
a focus on the relationship of dwelling intensification to housing adequacy. The research also
sought to investigate the effectiveness of planning policy responses to Auckland’s housing crisis
to understand its impact on housing adequacy.
Findings were collected using quantitative and qualitative data through a questionnaire survey
and analysis of relevant policies to Auckland’s housing crisis. Questionnaire survey
respondents were asked to share experiences of housing in Auckland through a series of
questions that ascertained their demographic profiles, current housing conditions, housing
aspirations and perception of housing adequacy. The policy analysis focused on planning
responses to address Auckland’s housing crisis, however, due to the breadth of factors
contributing to housing issues in Auckland, relevant general housing policy and economic
housing policy were also focused upon.
The findings suggest that housing adequacy is an issue in Auckland that is negatively impacting
Auckland’s housing crisis. Almost half of participants surveyed in this research were afflicted
by one or more issues relating directly to housing adequacy. Ethnic disparities were prevalent
in housing adequacy deficits with Māori and Pacifica consistently suffering worse than Pākehā.
Associated with these ethnic disparities was the direct impact that dwelling crowding has on
housing adequacy with demand for additional living space providing a key indicator for the
wellbeing of a household. Dwelling intensification was found to not alleviate housing adequacy
issues in Auckland currently due to the supply of housing not being sufficient to reduce demand
for housing. The apparent impacts from policy responses to Auckland’s housing crisis from the
research have had a seemingly negligible impact on improving housing adequacy, however,
they provide cause for optimism due to the framework that Kāinga Ora, the National Policy
Statement on Urban Development and the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply
and Other Matters) Bill establishes for addressing the crisis. An apparent lack of explicit
reference to housing adequacy in planning documents and planning policy responses to Auckland’s
housing crisis was also found to be negatively contributing to housing adequacy.
Facilitating solutions to improving housing adequacy represents an opportunity to improve the
socio-economic wellbeing and health outcomes of people in Auckland as they progressively worsen
with increases to cost-of-living. Recommendations for improving housing adequacy in Auckland
include:
- Increasing housing supply to facilitate the construction of higher density housing through
amendments to the National Policy Statement on Urban Development.
- Introduce new planning legislation or amend current planning legislation to provide
councils the power to assert requirements for placemaking and public space enhancements
for high density housing projects to attenuate the effects of the population influx to an area.
- Lift Kāinga Ora’s First Home Loan house price cap to average prices in each region that
allows for variation in type of housing sought by first home buyers.
The significance of this research lends to improving housing adequacy in Auckland through
planning responses aimed to positively impact Auckland’s housing crisis.