But instead of investing in the infrastructure we need, the government wants to expand the state highway that cuts through the city with two new tunnels and a flyover into Hataitai. We think this is a bad idea. Some friends of the City for People campaign have put together information to help you take action, which we’re sharing with you because this matters for the future of our city.

You have until 11:59pm Sunday 14 December 2025 to tell the government that Wellington deserves better (see details below!)

– Finn and the City for People team

For years now, almost all transport projects in Wellington have seemed slow or stuck.

All of a sudden, one very specific project from Let’s Get Wellington Moving is getting the rockets put under it. That project: expanding the state highway through the city with two new tunnels and a whole bunch of big-build road stuff like a flyover into Hataitai.

After so long, many of us are saying, “hell, at least something is happening!” and there’s lots of “driving it through” “foot on the gas” language.

But for Wellington’s sake, it’s really worth us saying “Hey remember, this is what we, Wellington, really care about, and we want to see you respect that”.

This post sets out why it’s worth saying something - now, in the short window - and suggests some things that will make ripples.

This is not the project we need

Because this project, with the rockets under it, is the single stupidest of all the Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) projects – for many reasons including some you might not expect.

• The cost of this project is truly bananas. Per kilometre it’s the most expensive roading project in the entire country. It’s $2.9-3.8 billion (with a B - looks like this).

• And it’s all about a relatively small aspect of Wellington’s transport problems: private-car congestion at selected times.

• It makes no attempt to fix what will make the most difference to people (and LGWM’s origin story): the bus-network that’s already at capacity and hamstrung by being stuck in general traffic.

• Even just for general traffic congestion, this project is jumping to a platinum-plated mega project solution before we’ve tried all the other things first.

It could do irreparable harm to Wellington, just as we’re starting the transition to being a real city.

And the heart of it won’t even achieve what it’s supposed to.

• It aims to “fix” traffic congestion by building a bigger road in the centre. Never, not ever, has this worked.

• If you look at the numbers for how LGWM’s package was going to “fix traffic”, it wasn’t the very expensive road-building that was going to do the heavy lifting: it was congestion charging (digital infrastructure and some gantries) and the second spine for public transport (paint, signage, timetabling). And the costs for civil construction (which this expansion project is all about) have rocketed since then.

• There are lots of flaws with the logic: smooth, faster-flowing traffic through the city centre while also somehow not worsening severance in Te Aro, and while also allowing lots of cars to turn on and off it…

• Its Cost-Benefit Ratio is already low (even with the extra-low discount rate now allowed to be used) and the Inner City Bypass was found to have been probably not worth the money spent on it (we lose more than we gain from having it) so it’s highly likely this will be worse given its far greater costs. The opportunity cost of this public money is dismaying.

And it is highly likely to at least start. The proverbial rockets are lined up and they’re filled with high-octane political ego; out of all the extraordinarily expensive RONS projects, this is the one that is likeliest to get underway.

Take heart: absolutely it’s worth raising your voice now

There’s still a lot of surprisingly major design stuff yet to be negotiated between Wellington City Council and NZTA. The funding actually allocated so far is for “design, consenting and early works development”.

This negotiation space is where we, the public, can give them a solid steer: to minimise the harm this project inflicts on the city, and maximise the sweeteners around the edges.

Should this be up to us normies? No, of course not.

We should be able to rely on our officials to use their subject-matter expertise in the public good, and our democratic leaders to have our best interests at heart.

But the sheer disarray left by Let’s Get Wellington Moving, plus high-octane ministerial-ego rocket-fuel behind this project, means our local decision-makers need us to reorient their compasses for them, and reinvigorate their city mojo.

Here’s the gist: congestion charging might sort out much of the congestion anyway by itself!

Let’s lean into that first and then see if we need all this other cost.

• The government has just changed the law to allow cities to do congestion charging. It’s likely to be a nudge (the price of a cup of coffee or less) to encourage people who want to drive their private car into the busy city centre to do so at a slightly different time, or to enter the centre another way - bus, or carpool, or walk or scoot or bike.

• Because Wellington’s peak hours are really peaky, congestion is pretty bad for a short time (not bad in major city terms though). All the rest of the time we have plenty of road space.

• All we need to do is flatten the peak a bit (like in COVID!) and we’ve eased the congestion problem that all this is allegedly about fixing.

• It’ll work. Everywhere around the world that congestion charging has been used, where you go from no charging to some charging - even a little location, for a short window of each day - it meaningfully improves traffic congestion.

Let’s fix the network: turn all the other knobs first (like NZTA keeps telling everyone to do)

Good infrastructure planning, worldwide, says “try all the other cheaper things to fix your problem before you throw lots of money into building something new.” Our Infrastructure Commission says it, and who’s also been saying it for ages? Only our very own NZTA!

Here are the other things we should dial up to “fix congestion” before jumping to spending astronomical amounts on building more road space. (Fun fact: these were part of the original LGWM package but were excluded from the public engagement because they were too boring / too complex):

• Easing general traffic congestion: travel demand-management to flatten the peak. Includes congestion charging but also other tools like parking management. It’s vastly cheaper than building new tunnels, and helps us make better use of the road space we already have. It works because motivating just a small percentage of the travelling public to change something about their travel choices - be it the time or vehicle/mode they travel by, and even just changing a little bit - makes a big difference.

• Easing general traffic congestion and making bussing way better: unblock the bus network through the city centre by making a “second spine” of bus priority. It’s hugely cheaper: paint, signs, traffic lights and timetabling. It will take ~60% of the bus movements off the Golden Mile, meaning we can have more buses that serve us quicker, more reliably and freeing up the Golden Mile for a nicer experience walking, sitting out, meeting people, shopping…

• Making it nicer and safer to walk around the centre, especially for more vulnerable Wellingtonians (disabled people, kids, older people): six much cheaper things than more highway space.

1. Tweak traffic lights to give people more time to cross roads.

2. Enforce genuine 30kph traffic speeds.

3. Widen footpaths and narrow crossing distances.

4. Prioritise more mobility carparking over general parking, and more parking enforcement.

5. Smooth the ramps between footpath and road.

6. Get scooters off footpaths into general lanes or cycle lanes

If you’re dead-set on stupidly expanding road space, do the best possible stupid-road-space-expansion project

Wellington should be negotiating hard for these three points

1. Make buses best through the Basin. Separated, fulltime bus priority through the Basin Reserve area both ways.

   • Free buses from mingling with general traffic because they carry way more people. Prioritise their crossing the highway travelling north-south - because remember they carry way more people - and separate them travelling east-west so they don’t get stuck in the general traffic.

   • Do not do this half-baked (part-time bus priority that confuses everyone, requires complex signage and loads of enforcement, and that’s vulnerable to short-term retraction while delivering only some of the goods).

   • For bonus points: fund the second spine - what was always going to actually unblock the central city, for everyone. Fulltime bus priority, that actually makes good on the “potential” for less traffic between our city and our harbour that NZTA dangle in their promotion.

   • The 2019 Bus Priority Action Plan is a brilliant document and (for once) with solid commitment from both councils. Execute it.

2. Make a way better Mt Vic tunnel experience for humans. Separated space for people walking, from people going fast on wheels, and both protected from cars.

   • They’re spending $2.9-$3.8 billion dollars of our money and the best NZTA’s own comms people can say for the design’s provision for people walking, scooting, wheeling and cycling is that it’s “better than status quo”. There’s still people going fast on wheels amongst people going slowly on feet and wheelchairs in a narrow confined space. Oh, with slightly fewer exhaust fumes and deafening traffic noise - lucky us. For $2.9-$3.8 billion dollars.

   • This is an embarrassment. Genuinely separated space is essential and given the people-carrying efficiency of rori iti and footpaths versus car lanes, absolutely worth more tunnel space.

3. Prevent the extra traffic of its induced demand from ruining big tracts of the city. Building more space for cars will, initially, make driving nicer. What does that mean?

   • More people drive, more - and not just through the centre non-stop. Including “popping down to Moore Wilsons” and “going to pick the kids up cos it’s raining” and and and and...

   • The extra traffic turning on and off the expanded highway at all the north-south junctions (Willis / Cuba / Victoria / Taranaki / Tory, and Wellington / Moxham / Walmer / Hamilton) will impose the “offramp effect” onto those neighbourhoods: more traffic, going faster because it’s about to get on / has just come off a zoomy big highway-feeling road. (See: Auckland neighbourhoods.)

   • Te Aro and Hataitai are car-dominated enough as it is, and they’re places where lots more people want to live and do stuff. Just as they’re starting to get going, extra traffic will blight them for decades to come. NZTA must prevent this - all this induced demand is entirely caused by making more driving space.

   • Negotiating points could be:

     • that they don’t let cars turn onto or off the big highway from some of these key streets (for Cuba, it would be a step towards pedestrianisation) - could use smart bollards that allow service vehicles and emergency vehicles only

     • That they expand footpath space at those intersections so people waiting (much longer) aren’t so cramped, and traffic turning on or off the highway must do so more carefully round a sharper corner.

Yes, these will slow traffic on the new highway. It’s a city. Fast traffic isn’t appropriate through a city centre.

Here’s how you can take action:

Do your thing by 11:59pm Sunday 14 December 2025.

Go to one of the NZTA open days / public meetings and say / ask about this stuff. There’s two left:

• Wednesday, 3 December (3 pm – 7 pm) – All Saints Church Hall, Hataitai.

• Saturday, 6 December (2 pm – 5 pm) – Mt Cook School Gym, Mt Cook.

Give “feedback” via their portal - this portal is pretty skewed to their beliefs about the project but do your best with the free text boxes. This engagement survey is open until 11:59pm Sunday 14 December 2025.

Email your messages in, to SH1Wgtnimprovements@nzta.govt.nz, with subject line “Feedback on Wellington RONS 1” or something similar. And make sure you include some of the demographic info at the beginning so they count it as a “real” piece of feedback.

Remember: we can still make this thing less bad for the city, and max up the side sweeteners. Make your voice heard!

Art by Erin Daily

Cover photo credit: Elliot Blyth

That’s why you can see below which candidates support the historic win in the 2024 District Plan, which will set our beautiful city up for more affordable, well-located, healthy, warm, dry homes for decades to come.

Each candidate was asked: “Do you support the 2024 District Plan and the National Policy Statement on Urban Development?”. (thanks to Kasey at the excellent threesixtysix blog for running the responses). We also checked incumbent councillors’ responses against their actual voting record.

We will hold future candidates to their promises. The good news is the new council can’t legally go back on the 2024 District Plan - that process was final and binding. Any new plan changes will have to be under the proposed replacement RMA, which will probably require councils to enable even more homes and great stuff like allowing shops and pubs to mix into our newly densified neighbourhoods.

I would also encourage you to check out other voting guides:

• Climate voting guide by threesixtysix

• Generation Zero’s scorecards

• Common Ground Aotearoa (advocates for land value rates)

• Cycle Wellington endorsements on their Facebook page

Other big housing-related issues to look out for when voting include: paying for big social housing stock upgrades, appropriately setting up our new regional water entity to support new development, and investing in all the goodies that support new homes like transport options and lovely local amenities.

Have a look below for your ward! Happy voting 🌇

🗳️ Your voting pack should be arriving in your letterbox if you don’t have it already. Make sure you post your vote before 7 October. Still need to enrol? Where to drop your voting papers? Want more info? Go to the Council website.

As a reminder the question was: Do you support the 2024 District Plan and the National Policy Statement on Urban Development?

Mayor

• Alex Baker - Independent

  Yes. Though I believe the NPS UD could have gone even further and better enabled high quality development.

• Scott Caldwell – The Scoot Foundation

  I have a long history writing and speaking extensively in favour of transit-oriented development & how to get the most out of it. I have been one of the country's loudest and most positive voices for this during the NPS-UD, MDRS, Spatial Plan, and District Plan. Any problems I have with these are that we didn't end strongly enough.

• Diane Calvert - Not Affiliated

  [No response, voted against the 2024 District Plan as councillor]

• Ray Chung - Independent Together

  [No response, voted against the 2024 District Plan as councillor]

• Rob Goulden – My Vision for the City 2050

  No, I think we need a new plan. See my Letter to the people of Wellington where I spell out my vision for how we can revitalize Wellington and take it forward

• Kelvin Hastie – Independent

  I do, ifn fact I avocated for it.

• Andrew Little - Labour

  Yes, absolutely. I was a Senior Minister in the Labour-led Government that implemented the NPS-UD, and I support and want to build on the pro-housing District Plan changes.

• Joan Shi - Independent

  So far, I support the National Policy Statement on Urban Development. I support most of the 2024 District Plan, with some exceptions. For example, the Proposed District Plan requires bike parking in new developments but does not require car parks. Another case is that the 2024 District Plan assumes Wellington will grow by another 50,000–80,000 people, which I have doubts about.

• Karl Tiefenbacher - Independent

  No as it is likely to result in less development.

Takapū Northern Ward

• John Apanowicz – A Voice for Wellington

  Yes, I voted for it. [Correct]

• Andrea Compton - Smart spending. Strong future.

  [No response]

• Mark Flynn – ACT Local

  No

• Michael Hill – Independent

  I support having community housing hubs close to transport options, but this needs to be considered against the level of infrastructure supporting it. I would also want to see more community engagement to help shape what this looks like and address considerations such as inter-generational living (Blue Zones). I am not in favour of simply creating high density housing without a community rationale behind it.

• Ben McNulty – Labour

  Yes, I do. [Correct, Ben voted for the 2024 District Plan]. Labour councillors were one of the drivers of the ambitious new District Plan enabling more homes to be built, led the conversion of empty offices into affordable rentals, protected our public housing stock, and kickstarted the review of rates policy to incentivise development of vacant land.

• Tony Randle - Independent - no party affiliation

  [No response, Tony voted against the 2024 District Plan]

• Joan Shi – Independent

  So far, I support the National Policy Statement on Urban Development. I support most of the 2024 District Plan, with some exceptions. For example, the Proposed District Plan requires bike parking in new developments but does not require car parks. Another case is that the 2024 District Plan assumes Wellington will grow by another 50,000–80,000 people, which I have doubts about.

Wharangi Onslow-Western Ward

• Ray Bowden – ACT Local

  No

• Diane Calvert - Not Affiliated

  [No response, voted against the 2024 District Plan as councillor]

• Ray Chung - Independent Together

  [No response, voted against the 2024 District Plan as councillor]

• Lily Brown – Independent, formerly Independent Together

  [No response but generally said “Climate is not one of the core platforms that I am running on so I won't be providing further comments.”]

• Joy Gribben – Labour

• Yes, I do. Labour councillors were one of the drivers of the ambitious new District Plan enabling more homes to be built, led the conversion of empty offices into affordable rentals, protected our public housing stock, and kickstarted the review of rates policy to incentivise development of vacant land.

• Kelvin Hastie – Independent

  I do, ifn fact I avocated for it.

• Rebecca Matthews – Green Party

  Hell yes! I drove the key amendments to enable thousands more homes close to the city and public transport. [Correct] I am so proud of what we achieved and optimistic about the outcomes it will deliver.

• Guy Nunn - Independent Together

  [No response]

Pukehīnau Lambton Ward

• Afnan Al-Rubayee – Labour

  Yes, I do. Labour councillors were one of the drivers of the ambitious new District Plan enabling more homes to be built, led the conversion of empty offices into affordable rentals, protected our public housing stock, and kickstarted the review of rates policy to incentivise development of vacant land.

• Rodney Barber – No Affiliation

  [Referred to another answer which could not be deciphered as yes or no]

• Tony De Lorenzo – Independent

  I support higher density housing in the inner city and I am opposed to fertile land being converted to housing.

• Zan Rai Gyaw - Residents-only voting

  [no response]

• David Lee – Let's Get Wellington Working

  While I support well-planned urban intensification, I cannot fully endorse the current National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) because it creates direct conflicts with the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM). […] We must reconcile these competing policies before blindly implementing density rules that could harm our environment.

• Teal Mau – No Affiliation

  Council’s focus should be on infrastructure to support growth, not setting national housing rules. I will ensure our network services, transport, and community facilities can cope with change, rather than stretching Council into areas it shouldn’t be managing.

• Dan Milward - Independent, formerly Independent Together

  [no response]

• Geordie Rogers - Green Party

  Absolutely, encouraging a more compact urban form is the best way to enable people to make more sustainable transport choices that reduce their costs and emissions. [Geordie voted for the 2024 District Plan as councillor]

• Tim Ward

  [no response]

• Stuart Wong - Independent Together

  [no response]

• Nicola Young - Independent - for an affordable city

  [no response, Nicola voted against the 2024 District Plan as councillor]

Motukairangi Eastern Ward

• Alex Baker – Independent

  Yes. Though I believe the NPS UD could have gone even further and better enabled high quality development.

• Chris Calvi-Freeman – Independent

  I support policies that promote the creation of more homes by making housing easier and more cost-effective to build. I especially support residential intensification around publictransport hubs and along major transport links. I am aware that there has been controversy about the reduction in heritage-zoned areas and I am concerned to ensure that new housing is of good quality and appropriate to the neighbourhood into which it is being introduced.

• Trish Given – Independent

  Yes. We need more well-located, affordable, climate-friendly housing. Intensifying near transport corridors and services makes sense, but it must be done well - with quality design, green space, and infrastructure that supports thriving, diverse and vibrant communities.

• Rob Goulden – My Vision for the City 2050

  No, I think we need a new plan. See my Letter to the people of Wellington where I spell out my vision for how we can revitalize Wellington and take it forward.

• Thomas Morgan – Very Independent

  Not sure. I've not seen the policy statement and won't be looking into the matter until I have a mandate to do something about it if needed.

• Sam O'Brien – Labour

  Yes, I do. Labour councillors were one of the drivers of the ambitious new District Plan enabling more homes to be built, led the conversion of empty offices into affordable rentals, protected our public housing stock, and kickstarted the review of rates policy to incentivise development of vacant land.

• Jonny Osborne – Green Party

  Yes. I support rules and regulations that encourage the development of good-quality affordable housing within our city, especially near major transport routes and community facilities.

• Karl Tiefenbacher – Independent

  No as it is likely to result in less development

• Ken Ah Kuoi - Independent Together

  [no response]

• Luke Kuggeleijn - ACT Local

  [no response]

• Michelle McGuire - Independent Together

  [no response]

Paekawakawa Southern Ward

• Nureddin Abdurahman – Labour

  Yes, I do. Labour councillors were one of the drivers of the ambitious new District Plan enabling more homes to be built, led the conversion of empty offices into affordable rentals, protected our public housing stock, and kickstarted the review of rates policy to incentivise development of vacant land. [Nureddin voted for the 2024 District Plan as councillor]

• Laurie Foon – Green Party

  Yes I have supported this and continue to do so. [Laurie voted for the It is important that in Wellington we continue to densify close to the city centre, and inner city suburbs with good active and public transport infrastructure, helping car share to be a better option than owning a car so you can easily live a low carbon lifestyle.

Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori Ward

• Te Paea Paringatai – No Affiliation

  These frameworks provide clarity for how Wellington might grow in a way that is resilient, efficient, and equitable. Intensification in the right places, near transport, services, and green infrastructure, is fundamental. What’s essential now is delivery that reflects Tūpiki Ora: protecting wāhi tapu, enabling papakāinga and housing aspirations, and advancing cultural landscape planning into the mainstream. This isn’t new policy, it reflects our shared responsibility and our collective commitment to future generations.

• Matthew Reweti – Labour

  Yes, I do. Labour councillors were one of the drivers of the ambitious new District Plan enabling more homes to be built, led the conversion of empty offices into affordable rentals, protected our public housing stock, and kickstarted the review of rates policy to incentivise development of vacant land.

• Tory Whanau - Green Party

  Yes [Correct, Tory voted for the 2024 District Plan as mayor]

NB. A few candidates that are clearly a joke / not serious have been excluded to make this guide more concise and useful. Some candidates’ responses were cut short for brevity where they went away from the question. See the full responses here.

— the City for People team

Art by Erin Daily.

A bit of background

After four years of campaigning, in March 2024 the Wellington City Council introduced a raft of pro-housing amendments that even went beyond City for People asks.

One of the most significant wins was paring back character areas. Up until recently, these carved off a whopping 88% of residential land in the inner suburbs from any redevelopment, no matter if they were old, overcrowded and mouldy. We’ve always said a small amount of character areas are sensible, but not blanket protections stretching from Thorndon to Berhampore. Keep the best bits, let the rest change.

The Wellington IHP made some truly bizarre recommendations, including shonky economics that more supply doesn’t make housing cheaper, and some truly odd findings about Wellingtonians not being able to walk back home up a hill. The District Plan originally pared back character areas from 306 hectares to 85. The IHP wanted to increase that to 206 hectares. The Council rejected their recommendation and Chris Bishop, the Housing Minister, agreed.

A group called “Live Wellington” (not to be confused with the Wellington Live facebook page) judicially reviewed the Council and Minister saying that their decision-making process was illegal and wanting to uphold the IHP’s recommendation.

What did the judgment say?

Justice Churchman dismissed their challenge on all grounds (read the judgment here). In summary, on each ground of review:

• Of course the NPS-UD applied to assessing the spatial extent of character areas. It was actually a mandatory consideration - the Council and Minister were “explicitly required to justify why character precincts made the level of development provided by the MDRS and NPS-UD inappropriate.”1

• The argument that the IHP’s recommendations aligned more with the NPS-UD than the Council’s decision was an attempt to attack the merits of the decision. Judicial review is about process and the Minister did not make any errors of law in his decision.2

• The Council and Minister did not need to go into a ‘granular’ analysis of all the character areas; a single decision on all character areas was fine. These are democratically elected decision makers, they can’t be expected to list every street in Mt Vic they want to change based on 100s of pages of reports and maps.3

• The Council and Minister gave adequate reasons for their decisions. They were permitted to trade off up housing development vs character restrictions and they did so.4 The Council even cited our submissions,5 made through our coalition partner Generation Zero, which supported the Court’s finding that the decision was lawfully made!

• The Council did not apply a ‘fixed policy’ of picking smaller character areas since August 2020. There was no evidence of this and in any event two elections since then meant different councillors were around the table.6

Standing back, this was really a nothing case. The legal process worked as intended, the public got their say, and democratically elected politicians weighed up the evidence in front of them based on their values. This was an ultimately futile delay tactic and a huge waste of everyone’s money by the Live Wellington group.

Some thank you’s

Again, thank you to our supporters, volunteers and those who made donations. Our submission to the IHP made a huge difference on the Council’s and Minister’s decisions, and now this court case. Every event, rally, march we put on helped. We even remember our quest to find the yuckiest flat back in 2021 (which was a ‘character’ flat) with our Wellington’s Next Top Mouldel competition!

Thanks to all the councillors since 2020 who voted to support this plan, and Minister Bishop who supported their decision. A special shout to Rebecca Matthews, who championed this cause since the start and moved the amendment in March 2024.

What’s next for housing in the city?

The Court’s decision now means medium density projects can now proceed with certainty in the inner suburbs. For example, there are two proposed developments - one in Mt Vic, one in Newtown, both which replace dilapidated old villas - that could only be built because of the Council’s decision to pick the smaller character areas.

There’s also more zoning changes coming from this Government in the next Council term. The decision on whether to ‘opt out’ of the MDRS (townhouse law), how to adopt more housing near transport links, and enabling mixed-use neighbourhoods. And of course there is going to be the (good) problem of building the necessary schools, pipes, transport and social infrastructure as more homes are built. There’s also going to issues about funding the huge backlog of social housing upgrades.

Local body elections are coming up in September. For the mayoralty, it looks like a two-horse race between incumbent Tory Whanau and Andrew Little. We know Whanau was elected on delivering a big win in the District Plan (and she did!). We know less about Little’s stance - his website says “Prioritising more housing development” is a priority. We will be following closely.

Ultimately the Mayor is one vote at the council table. We are also considering doing some scorecards to help you all assess all candidates come voting time. Watch this space.

From the bottom of our hearts, ngā mihi nui.

— Marko and the City for People team.

City for People support this proposal, because it will make it easier and faster for people to build more homes within existing urban areas. More homes will help with the severe housing shortages facing major cities around the country, including Wellington. Building a bunch of new, smaller homes will give people more choices. Making use of under-utilised land in the inner-suburbs will mean more people can live close to the places they work, study, and socialise. Denser urban form will reduce the need for our cities to sprawl out at the edges too, which is better for the environment.

They government has been seeking feedback on this proposal, so we’ve just made a submission in support — in collaboration with our friends at Generation Zero, Renters United, Greater Ōtautahi and the Coalition for More Homes.

Read our submission

We want a city built for people. A city all of us can share — where there are enough homes for everyone, it’s easy to get around, and we have choices about the types of homes we want to live in, and which of our local communities we want to put down roots in. 

At the end of the day, we can’t fix Wellington’s housing crisis without building more homes. At City for People, we will continue to support policies — whether from the council, or the central government — that will help these homes get built, and in the right places.

— Eleanor and the City for People team.

Art by Erin Daily. Cover image by Nick Sarvari on Unsplash.

It’s early days, but we’re already seeing signs of success. Wellington is finally going to get more homes.

Last month, Brookfields — a Christchurch-based home-building company that specialises in medium density housing — announced their intention to expand their operations into Wellington. This is great news! Beautiful new homes like these will be welcome additions to the character of our city.

And one of our city councillors recently shared this letter from Forma Group — another home-building company — letting councillors know about two exciting new projects made possible by the new District Plan.

“The District Plan changes are enabling more and better housing for Wellingtonians, and we are working to make sure it’s delivered responsibly.”

Upcoming talk on urban economics

We know heaps of you have been working hard to persuade your friends and families to support making it easier to build more homes in Wellington. But sometimes, the economic case can be tricky to explain. Here’s the chance to build up your confidence, and become a YIMBY-pro!

KPMG is hosting Motu Economist, Dr Stu Donovan, for a free talk on urban economics at 17:00 on 2 July — and you’re invited. See here for the details.

Register here

Stu has been a great friend to the City for People campaign, and has been extremely generous with his expertise. He is a really good communicator, making the hard stuff easy. We cannot recommend him enough. This talk will be pitched at an accessible level, so you don’t need to have any prior-expertise to find it interesting and informative.

A quick note on judicial review…

You might have seen, LIVE Wellington has announced they intend to pursue a judicial review regarding the council’s decision-making on character areas in the new District Plan. Essentially, this small group of people is upset that the council decided to reduce the size of ‘character’ protections to focus on smaller, high-quality sections of character rather than sweeping protections that cover entire suburbs (a move we supported, because it will make it easier to build more homes close to the inner-city, while still looking after plenty of character homes).

We’re not too worried about this, yet. We think the council had plenty of good evidence to support their decision on character areas, so it’s unlikely LIVE Wellington will manage to get the decision over-turned. But there is a chance that implementation of this part of the District Plan might get paused while the courts investigate. Not great.

We’re keeping an eye on the situation, and are considering what legal action we might be able to take ourselves, to make sure this judicial review doesn’t delay the new homes our city desperately needs. Stay tuned for updates.

That’s all for now. Keep on winning, Wellington!

Ngā mihi,

Eleanor, Marko, and the City for People team.

Minister Bishop has today released his decisions on Wellington City Council’s proposed District Plan. Councillors in March suggested a slew of pro-housing amendments to the flawed IHP report. Today the Minister agreed with nearly all of those amendments.

We are particularly glad to see the Minister agreed to upzone Kilbirnie centre rather than agree to a further plan change process - a sensible decision that reflects the clear requirements in the NPS-UD.

While we would’ve loved to see the 10 heritage buildings (including the crumbling Gordon Wilson Flats) that councillors delisted be confirmed, we understand that technical process requirements made that too difficult. Positive noises have been made by the Mayor and the Minister about reforming the heritage system as a whole, which is badly needed.

Thank you Minister, thank you councillors, and most of all thank you to all of our supporters who helped us see through this campaign. We started this in 2020 and this is the result we’ve been advocating for since day one.

Wellington’s poor housing record has held the city back for too long. This is a massive step forward in creating a city that is welcoming, affordable and vibrant - truly, a city for people.

Read about the decision:

• Decisions on Wellington City Council’s District Plan (Beehive press release)

• Minister backs sweeping housing changes for city (The Post)

• War for Wellington: Minister approves sweeping upzoning, rejects heritage changes (The Spinoff)

• RMA Minister rejects Wellington council's bid to remove heritage protections from buildings (RNZ)

• Chris Bishop makes way for more housing in Wellington but keeps controversial heritage listings (NZ Herald)

• Minister Chris Bishop rejects Wellington Independent Hearings Panel’s plan for lower housing growth in Wellington (Business Desk)

We’ll be organising a celebration, and thinking about ‘what next’ for the organisation soon.

Ngā mihi nui,

Marko, Eleanor and the entire City for People team.

But there is one last step: the Minister for Housing, Chris Bishop, needs to approve the council’s amendments.

Bishop has suggested publicly that he supports these amendments, but we need to give him one last little push. Let’s remind the minister that Wellingtonians support more housing, and will back him to approve all of the amendments.

We want you to email the Minister.

Tell him to say yes to Wellington City councillors’ pro-housing amendments.

Here’s an example email:

To: chris.bishop@parliament.govt.nz

Subject: Yes to the Wellington District Plan amendments

Kia ora Minister,

I am a resident of Wellington, and am emailing you to ask that you please approve all of the pro-housing amendments councillors made to the Wellington District Plan last month.

I am in favour of these amendments, because [insert your reasons: affordability, climate change, healthier homes, less overcrowding, more housing choice, a vibrant city, transport options, more accessible dwellings].

You have my full support to approve the councillors’ amendments.

Ngā mihi nui,

Click here for the email template

— Marko, Eleanor and the City for People team.

You’ve probably seen the headlines by now: on Thursday, our city councillors voted to change the zoning rules in Wellington and say yes more homes. Councillors rejected the Independent Hearings Panel’s many sketchy recommendations, and introduced a slew of pro-housing amendments that went above and beyond the City for People asks.

This is a huge victory. The new District Plan will enable thousands of new homes, in the right places.

Over the last four years, City for People has strived to bring a different perspective to conversations about our city’s future, that have been long been dominated by a privileged few who benefit from the status quo. Our team of volunteers have put their lives on hold and dedicated hundreds of hours of their time. We’re proud to have radically changed the direction of the housing debate in Wellington.

We would like to thank the Councillors who stood up for a progressive vision for our city. They have taken real action on the housing crisis, and we are proud to have them represent us.

Of course, we still need the Minister for Housing, Chris Bishop, to approve the councillor’s changes, but he’s given every indication that he will.

Housing wins the war:

“There is no other way of putting it. The new Wellington District Plan is the biggest, fattest W in the history of the pro-housing movement in this country. For the Yimbys, the New City, the progressives, the urbanists, a City for People, for anyone who wants to own a townhouse or apartment in Wellington, this is an enormous, unprecedented victory. 

In the stroke of a pen (and a six-hour meeting with many tedious amendment votes), Wellington has moved from the most restrictive housing market in New Zealand to the most permissive.”

— Joel McManus, The Spinoff

Housing advocacy groups celebrate big changes to Wellington's zoning rules:

“Housing advocacy groups and pro-density councillors are delighted by changes to Wellington's proposed district plan, after a series of amendments were made by councillors at Thursday's meeting. Amid a housing crisis in the capital, the Wellington City Council has broadly rejected a plan criticised for not doing enough to encourage more houses, drawn up by an independent hearing panel.

Luke Somervell from the group City for People said they were stoked with the amendments which would allow higher buildings in more places.

"The assumptions of people on the panel were so out of touch and out of step with the evidence," he said. "We were worried that councillors would listen to them, instead of what people want. A lot of people want more housing, they want to live in apartments, in fact they'll take anything at this stage, really."

He said increasing the housing stock would alleviate the long queues at flat viewings symptomatic of the competitive rental market, and make it harder for landlords to rent run-down places at high prices.

— Kate Green, RNZ

‘YIMBYs’ win Wellington housing debate: what does that mean for the city?

Pro-density group City for People, founded Marko Garlick and Eleanor West, has been pushing for a dense, upzoned housing plan since 2020. They were stoked with Thursday’s result.

Garlick felt motivated to start a campaign after being shocked that while several groups were formed to protect character areas, no-one was advocating for new, dense housing to solve the housing crisis.

[…]

West believed the decision made by the council on Thursday would lead to “housing abundance” in the next decade.

“I'm hoping that we'll see new developments going up all over the place. I'm hoping that we'll see lots of cranes. I think real cities have cranes and Wellington doesn't have enough so that would be nice to see.”

— Erin Gourley, The Post

Our Walk Home: march for a liveable city

On Monday, we marched from Civic Square to Newtown. The Independent Hearings Panel said Wellington didn’t need to zone for heaps more housing in Newtown because the city is an “amphitheatre” and it’s not reasonable to assume people who walk to work also walk home.

But you all turned up, the sun came out, and we proved them wrong.

And now our councillors have voted to include Adelaide Road in the city centre zone, which means six storey apartments will be allowed by default. Exactly the result we were hoping for!

Huge thank you to our brilliant volunteer organisers, Preyanka and Finn <3

City for People supporters tell their stories

Over the last month, we’ve been copied in on so many lovely emails from City for People supporters, calling on their councillors to make sensible decisions with all of our futures in mind. Thank you to everyone who used our email template and made your voices heard.

Here’s an exert from an email by Newtown resident, Tim (shared with permission):

“Please, councillors, when you think of Newtown, and when you think of the city as a whole, think about how special this place is, and the joy of enabling people to live in it. This is an incredibly special place and you and I are so lucky to enjoy it. But what makes it special is the people, and the communities we can create together. Please take this once in a generation opportunity to enable housing, so we can make this city an affordable place for current and future residents.”

Other media coverage we recommend:

• Live updates: Wellington City Council approves ambitious new District Plan The Spinoff

• The pros and cons of Wellington's controversial district plan (audio) RNZ

• Wellington City Council removes heritage status from derelict buildings for more housing Newshub, with comments from City for People spokesperson, Luke 👇

• Revealed: All the changes councillors want to make to Wellington’s District Plan The Spinoff

• Marathon council meeting to decide on upzoning Stuff

• Wellington housing: Rewriting the rulebook for building in the capital RNZ

• Who benefits from a feminist city? Miriam Moore of Women in Urbanism on The Spinoff

• The moment that could change the future of housing in Wellington The Spinoff

• The story of Wellington’s housing panel The Spinoff

Extra special shout out to Joel McManus at The Spinoff and Erin Gourley at The Post for their dedicated coverage of the District Plan debate over the last few months: thank you both for making sure this once-in-a-generation decision got the public attention it deserved.

Finally, thank you for your support

We are so grateful to all of you who have supported our campaign over the last four years. You volunteered your time. You made submissions. You donated money. You wrote letters. You turned up to public meetings. You sent emails. You marched with us. You shared our messages with your friends, your whānau, your neighbours, your colleagues, and your electrician.

You all helped make this happen. Together, we were a voice that could not be ignored.

From the bottom of our hearts, ngā mihi nui.

— Eleanor, Marko and the City for People team.

P.S. don’t forget to RSVP for the special edition Urban Nerds next week (19 March). If you're still reeling from our huge win, this is the perfect opportunity for collective processing.

This opportunity to change the zoning rules in our city doesn’t come around often. We need to make sure our councillors vote for more homes, in the right places. Please lend us your voice this week and support our final big push.

Join us on Monday for Our Walk Home to Newtown.

We’re walking to Newtown on Monday to call for more homes, affordable rentals, and a truly liveable city - join us! Bring your friends, bring your family, bring that neighbour who sometimes waters your plants when you’re away.

Central government says Wellington City Council must plan for lots more homes within “walkable catchments” of urban centres. But the Independent Hearings Panel (advising the council) says we don’t need to zone for heaps more housing in Newtown because Wellington is an “amphitheatre” and it’s not reasonable to assume people who walk to work also walk home.

We’re going to prove them wrong.

We deserve lots more homes in Newtown, and in all the other suburbs close to the city centre where people want to live.

🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♂️ key information 🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♂️

• We’ll leave Civic Square at 5:30pm, ending with drinks and socialising at Bebemos on Riddiford Street.

• There will be people at Civic Square to greet you, answer any questions, and make you feel welcome.

• We will have stickers for our walkers.

• VUWSA is organising a walking bus, leaving the Hub on Kelburn campus at 5:00pm to join the rest of us in Civic Square.

• We know this walk is no Everest, hundreds of people walk home this way every day. But this is a stunt, and the goal here is to draw attention to how silly the panel is being. So please dress in active wear if you can! We’re keen to have fun with it, and take crack up pictures along the way. Sneakers, leg warmers, tramping boots, hydration packs, head bands, running bibs, hydro flasks - bring it all. If you arrive at Civic Square early, you can join us for *warm ups*. We’re planning to set up water stations along the way too.

Attend the council meeting on Thursday!

Council committee meetings like this one are open to the public. Let’s pack out the room and make sure our councillors remember who’s futures they’re deciding when they vote on the District Plan. Together, we can make them feel like the whole city is watching.

The meeting is at 113 The Terrace and starts at 9.30 am, but you can join at any time and stay for as long or as little as you like. Enter the Council building from the Terrace or Lambton Quay, then head up to Level 16 where you'll be directed to the meeting room (room 16.09 Ngake).

Contact your councillors, let them know you support our five asks.

Councillors are often very affected by the personal stories they hear directly from their constituents. Your stories stick with them and motivate them to make decisions with your future in mind. Your stories are powerful.

This week is the perfect time to contact your councillors and tell them why you support our five asks. Remind them that you’re paying attention, and if they want your vote in future, they need to earn it.

We’ve put all their contact details with an email template right here for you 👇. Easy peasy.

Contact your councillor

Ngā mihi to everyone who joined us for our public meeting!

We had a full house on Wednesday to hear from our panel of experts. Marko was live tweeting throughout, in case you missed it.

Huge thank you to our brilliant panellists:

City for People spokesperson, Elena Wood, reminded us that Wellington’s real character comes from its people.

Economist, Eric Crampton, made it clear that zoning definitely effects land prices, endorsing City for People’s five asks with a challenging “and” for greenfield expansion too. He believes the council has strong grounds to reject the nonsense recommendations of the IHP.

Housing and public health expert, Elinor Chisholm, told harrowing stories about the poor quality of housing she encounters in her research. Low-income renters are crowding into cold, damp houses because that’s all they can afford, and their kids are ending up in hospital.

Economist, Kirdan Lees, warned that people are voting with their feet and will leave Wellington to find more affordable alternatives if the council doesn’t take action.

Urban planner, Stephen Davis, talked about the positive effects of all the new housing being built in the Hutt Valley since the city changed their zoning plan in 2019. A case study we should be looking to for inspiration!

Renters United spokesperson, Luke Somervell, made a plea for councillors to centre the experiences of people who are suffering through the housing crisis. He talked about the inequity in the consultation process: residents associations have power, money, and can hire (sketchy) experts to make their case!

We invited representatives from all the political parties to speak too:

Labour MP, Ayesha Verrall, agreed that restricting housing puts Wellington’s real character at risk - adding that, as an ex-doctor, she has seen the horrible health outcomes of poor quality housing.

Former councillor and Green MP for Wellington Central, Tamatha Paul, encouraged councillors to be as bold as possible - we are in city that support densification! She cautioned them: vote for more homes, or risk losing your job at the next election.

Lastly, a massive thank you to Jordan and Yvette, for volunteering to organise such a fun and informative night!

More media coverage we recommend:

• How much Wellington’s housing panel shrank density, in four maps

• How low-density housing is making us poorer

• Wellington teacher’s home-owning dreams lured him south

• Great news: building new housing makes old housing cheaper

• Debate Over Housing Intensification ... Intensifies in which Luke told Salient magazine:

The current recommendations are “bad news for renters.” He is critical of the IHP’s recommendations on character protections, noting that “when the IHP recommends we set aside the equivalent of 200 rugby fields of land in Wellington for character protection, they’re strangling the ability of our city to grow—and [renters] are paying the price.”

“The council only votes on the District Plan every two decades. Historically, they get swamped with requests from homeowners pleading to keep things the way they are. And they usually succeed, because there’s next to no input from anyone else”, he said, “so even though there’s a huge demand in Pōneke for townhouses and apartments, it’s really hard to build them.

“If the council doesn’t front up to this crisis, it’ll be harder and harder for us to see a future in the city.” Somervell calls on Council to “ignore the report, face up to the crisis, and make it easier for people to live here. The best way to do that is to sign off on a better District Plan that’ll make it easier for developers to build townhouses and apartments.”

Urban Nerds in March

Our friends at Talk Wellington have asked us to remind you all to come to Urban Nerds again later this month! There will be special guests from the 2Walk&Cycle Conference, so you don’t want to miss it. But please note, it’s on the third Tuesday of this month (instead of the second) and it’s at a different, bigger venue. RSVP here.

This past month of campaigning wouldn’t have been possible with a huge effort from all of our amazing volunteers and supporters. Together, we’ve been advocating real change in our city and it’s working. We’re so close to the finish line.

Time for one last big push!

Ngā mihi nui,

Eleanor, and the City for People team.

Our Walk Home - march for a liveable city!

Central government says Wellington council must plan for lots more homes within “walkable catchments” of urban centres. But the Independent Hearing Panel (advising the council) says we don’t need to zone for heaps more housing in Newtown because Wellington is an “amphitheatre” and that it’s not reasonable to assume people who walk to work also walk home.

Let’s prove them wrong.

We deserve lots more homes in Newtown, and in all the other suburbs close to the city centre where people want to live.

We’re walking to Newtown on March 11th to call for more homes, affordable rentals, and a truly liveable city - join us! Bring your friends, bring your family, bring that colleague you awkwardly chat to sometimes in the elevator. Or, just come by yourself - we’ll have people there to greet you and make you feel welcome.

We’ll leave Civic Square at 5:30pm, ending with drinks and socialising in Newtown.

Public meeting to protect Wellington's future

We’re convening an urgent public meeting in response to the Independent Hearing Panel’s recommendations for Wellington’s District Plan.

6 March, 6.30pm-8.30pm, at the Sustainability Trust on Forresters Lane.
Join us on to:
📃 Express your concerns about the findings and recommendations of the of the IHP
✊ Demand action from Wellington City Councillors ahead of their pivotal District Plan meeting on March 14th
💡 Learn from leading experts about the social and economic implications of the IHP recommendations, and why WCC must make amendments to support the progress on housing that Wellington needs.

Your attendance is vital to making your voice heard. Together, we can shape a better future for Wellington.

Who will be on the expert panel?

• Kirdan Lees - economist

• Elinor Chisholm - housing and public health expert

• Elena Wood - City for People spokesperson

• Stephen Davis - urban planner

• Eric Crampton - economist

We’ve also sent invites to all the political parties, asking them to send representatives and offering the opportunity to make a statement.

This is a free event, but please RSVP via Eventbrite as the venue has limited capacity.

RSVP via Eventbrite

The Sustainability Trust is an accessible venue and there is car parking available if you need it - just let us know and we can sort it out for you cityforpeoplenz@gmail.com.

City for People in the media

It’s been another great week of coverage for the campaign, shining a spotlight on the dire state of housing in Wellington and the massive opportunity we have for change.

You might have caught Luke on 1News, advocating for more homes in the inner suburbs. This kind of prime-time TV coverage is a huge deal for us. It proves City for People is a strong voice in the debate over Wellington’s future. We have a real shot at convincing our councillors to pass a sensible District Plan that enables heaps of new homes in our city. Let’s keep the pressure up, all the way to March 14.

Jesse, Marko, and Theodore ran the numbers on how many new homes are being built under the current rules in each Wellington suburb, and pitched their findings to The Post: Not enough housing built in inner-city suburbs, advocate says.

Data provided by City for People, which was pulled from the StatsNZ website, shows the effect of maintaining character areas is clear on the number of building consents issued.

The southern part of Mt Cook, for example, is mostly covered by a character area restricting density and demolition – it issued an average of four new building consents a year since 1990, compared with an average of 19 each year in the northern half of the suburb.

In the 10 years spanning from 2013 to 2023, just two years had any consents issued in the southern part of Mt Cook.

Thorndon and Kelburn averaged just three building consents a year, with Mount Victoria slightly higher at four a year.

“There's basically very minimal new housing being built in the inner suburbs, such as Thorndon. And massive amounts of new housing is being built in Johnsonville,” said Heeringa.

Chris Bishop (Minister for Housing) gave speech earlier this week in which he announced that he will be Minister that ultimately decides between the recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel, and any alternate recommendations put forward by the council. He made it clear that, unlike the “expert” Panel, he firmly believes changing the zoning rules will result in more homes! See Joel MacManus’s reporting on The Spinoff: A housing minister for the New City

More coverage we recommend:

• Eric Crampton’s tongue-in-cheek opinion: This is why Wellington should be called Lowerer Hutt. Hutt City changed their zoning rules in 2017, and now they’re buildings heaps more homes than Wellington is. We can either learn from our neighbour’s good example and do the same, or eventually get absorbed into the growing Hutt metropolis!

• This piece from Joel at The Spinoff: Survey shows almost every economist in NZ disagrees with Wellington’s housing panel (instead, these economists agree with what Marko told the Panel last year).

Other ways to help out

Share our events on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook - help us spread the word.

Write a letter to the editor. These letters reach a wide audience - they’re an opportunity to change the minds of people can be hard to reach. Remind everyone why Wellington desperately needs to build more homes, in the right places.

Email your councillors, and let them know why you support our five asks. We’ve got all their contact details with an email template right here for you 👇. Easy peasy.

Email your councillor

Finally, thanks to the people who’ve recently donated in support of our campaign! We appreciate your support - stay awesome.

There’s less than two weeks to go until the council votes on the District Plan. Together, we can make sure our councillors say yes to more homes.

Nga mihi nui,

Eleanor, and the City for People team.

6 March, 6.30pm-8.30pm, at the Sustainability Trust on Forresters Lane.
Join us on to:
📃 Express your concerns about the findings and recommendations of the of the IHP
✊ Demand action from Wellington City Councillors ahead of their pivotal District Plan meeting on March 14th
💡 Learn from leading experts about the social and economic implications of the IHP recommendations, and why WCC must make amendments to support the progress on housing that Wellington needs.

Your attendance is vital to making your voice heard. Together, we can shape a better future for Wellington.

This is a free event, but please RSVP via Eventbrite as the venue has limited capacity.

RSVP via Eventbrite

The Sustainability Trust is an accessible venue and there is car parking available if you need it - just let us know and we can sort it out for you cityforpeoplenz@gmail.com.

Walk home with us!

Central government says Wellington council must plan for lots more homes within “walkable catchments” of urban centres. But the Independent Hearing Panel (advising the council) says we don’t need to zone for heaps more housing in Newtown because Wellington is an “amphitheatre” and that it’s not reasonable to assume people who walk to work also walk home.

Let’s prove them wrong.

We deserve lots more homes in Newtown, and in all the other suburbs close to the city centre where people want to live.

We’re walking to Newtown on Monday March 11th to call for more homes, affordable rentals, and a truly liveable city - join us!

We’ll leave Civic Square at 5:30pm, ending with drinks and socialising in Newtown.

Other ways to take action

Can’t join us in person but still want to help out? There’s heaps of other effective things you can do!

Share our events on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook - help us spread the word.

Email your councillors, and let them know why you support our five asks. We’ve put all their contact details and an email template right here for you 👇. Easy peasy.

Email your councillor

Write a letter to the editor. These letters reach a wide audience, so remind everyone that there are heaps of people in our city crying out for more homes. Here’s a great example letter we spotted from James Barber:

And of course, we’d always welcome your donation, too!

Make a donation

Media round up

Luke was in The Post again this week: Wellington rents amongst highest in New Zealand.

Luke Somervell said it was tough to see Wellington’s rents on a par with Auckland.

“I remember when I moved from Auckland to get cheaper rent in Wellington. And now people are going back to Auckland because there’s more housing and it’s cheaper up there so it’s quite an extraordinary turnaround.”

And I had a piece on The Spinoff, arguing that demolishing some character homes would be better for the environment, actually.

“Houses don’t exist alone in space. They’re part of a complex system: the city. Comprehensive life-cycle analysis should take this context into account. Wellington has a housing crisis caused by high demand and a persistent under-supply of new homes. We need to build more homes (this is not optional) and they need to go somewhere – ideally somewhere where the life-cycle emissions of the whole city will be lowest.”

Preyanka shared her story of moving 11 times in 11 years in the Spinoff, an all-too-familiar tale for renters in Wellington:

“Every move felt inevitable, the result of circumstance, like I was a helpless leaf being blown about in the housing equivalent of Wellington’s ridiculous winds. But looking back, there were patterns. If I’d had the option, I would have rented an apartment on my own, and built a cosy, safe paradise. But every time I went flat hunting, I couldn’t afford the bare minimum. Moving 11 times is rough. It always costs you to leave a home, and not just financially. It’s hard to put down roots if you don’t stay in one place. Good, reliable housing is about safety in every sense of the word.”

And check out this great write up of Urban Nerds last week from the folks at Talk Wellington - including speeches from Marko and Luke.

More coverage we recommend:

• Joel’s analysis on the Wellington by-election results: The old town and the new city: a clash of two Wellingtons

• Wellington District Plan panel’s views on affordability ‘wrong’, says housing minister

• Why are economists up in arms about Wellington's housing report?

• Wellington housing panel members have millions in undeclared property interests

• Reviewing Wellington’s newest heritage landmark: a rusty oil tank

Less than three weeks to go!

Council will vote on the final District Plan on 14 March. We’re calling on our city councillors to change the zoning rules in five important ways and make it easier to build more homes, in the right places.

Our asks

Let’s keep working together and keep the pressure up!

Nga mihi nui,

Eleanor, and the City for People team.

Ngā mihi nui to everyone who came to hang out with us at Urban Nerds on Tuesday! We’ve never seen Waitoa Bar so packed. It was such a blast, and we’re keen to get everyone together again.

We’re planning to organise a community meeting on 6 March to talk about why the District Plan is so important for our housing crisis - save the date. Come along to hear from an exciting line up of speakers and share some kai (food). We’ll send out a proper invite with the details once we’ve got them nailed down.

Some of our volunteers are also keen to organise a hīkoi (walk) from Civic Square to Newtown some time in early March, to show councillors just how easy it is for those of us who walk to work to walk home too. The Independent Hearings Panel says we don’t need to zone for heaps more housing in Newtown because Wellington is a “amphitheatre” and that it’s not reasonable to assume people who walk to work also walk home. Let’s prove them wrong.

If you’re keen to help out with organising either of these events, reply to this email and we’ll put you in touch with the right people. Don’t have any spare time but do have a little spare cash? We’d appreciate your donation - it could go a long way.

Make a donation

Voting in the Wellington by-election closes noon on Saturday!

If you haven’t voted yet, don’t panic! There is still time. If you live in one of the below suburbs and your papers didn’t arrive, you lost them, or they’re damaged, you can still cast a special vote. Head down to the Arapki Manners Library before 12 noon on Saturday 17. This by-election is critical to the future of housing for our city - whoever we elect will likely hold the deciding vote on the District Plan, so make sure you choose a candidate who is emphatically in favour of building more homes, in the right places.

Less than a month to go

It’s less than a month till the big meeting on 14 March where councillors will vote on the final District Plan for our city. So far the Independent Hearings Panel has released three sets of advice and a lot of it is… not great. Joel McManus from The Spinoff explains why here, here, and here.

We’re not the only ones shocked by the lack of expertise from this “expert” panel. Politicians from the ACT Party, Green Party, Labour Party, and National Party have all criticised the panel’s advice. As have many economists (this piece from Stu Donovan is a must read), and the folks from Te Waihanga/ the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission.

City for People in the media

Our spokespeople have been doing a bang up job spreading the word about our campaign for more housing in Wellington.

Elena had great piece in the in The Spinoff last week, explaining our asks: The five things we want from Wellington’s new District Plan.

“We all want our city to be a community-driven, vibrant, and exciting place to live. But Wellington can’t be the “coolest little capital” with a red-hot housing crisis. It’s oxymoronic, and we’ve got to fix it. We need our councillors to work together and pass a pragmatic District Plan that reflects the real needs of the people in our city. Let’s prioritise people, think of the future, and keep community at the centre of this new District Plan.”

Luke was front page of The Post, reacting to the Independent Hearing Panel’s advice: ‘At our wits’ end’: Group fumes at housing recommendations

““we’re all at our wit’s end” City for People spokesperson Luke Somervell said after reading the latest recommendations that suggest 206 hectares get character protections, up from the draft which had just 85 hectares. The new area is the equivalent of more than 200 rugby fields.”

With these words ☝️, Luke picked up up the dubious ‘Quote of the Day’ award in Bernard Hickey’s The Kākā newsletter: Watching the ladder being pulled up in real time.

“The panel’s rulings fly in the face of evidence in Auckland and Christchurch that increasing housing densification and supply reduces rent and house price inflation. Politicians, economists, most urban planners and housing advocates are gobsmacked and are now pleading for Wellington City Councillors to reject or rewrite the de-densification implied by the IHP’s rulings when they vote to progress the new plan on March 14.”

And Luke was featured on Business Desk too, in Dileepa Fonseka’s peice on The 'rigour mortis' of Wellington and housing.

“City for People – a 'yes in my backyard' (yimby) advocacy group – spokesman Luke Somervell feels there was a “double standard” in the level of evidence required from his group during the Wellington IHP process compared with others who sought to limit development.  “When it came to our submission they were basically questioning every single line, not necessarily with evidence … often it was very ‘vibes-based’.””

And Marko and I were on the New Zealand Initiative’s podcast with economist Eric Crampton, reacting to the panel’s advice.

Finally, have you seen our snazzy new posters around town? Send us your pictures and we’ll share them on social media!

Let’s keep the momentum up. With more homes, Wellington can be a city for people. Together, we can make sure our councillors put people first and make sensible choices for all of our futures.

Nga mihi nui,

Eleanor, and the City for People team.

P.S. a wee shout out: friend to the campaign, economist Stu Donovan, is running a three-day course on urban economics in Wellington in June, no prior knowledge needed. Stu is an excellent teacher and we rate him highly. You can find out more info and sign up here (50% discount for students).

The council has published the decision making process leading up to the final vote on the District Plan. TL:DR the big vote will be on 14 March - save the date! This meeting (and the briefings that precede it) are open to the public. Let’s pack out their meeting room and remind our councillors that we want more homes, in the right places. They must vote yes to housing in the District Plan.

Catch us at Urban Nerds on Tuesday next week!

Our volunteers will be at the monthly Urban Nerds networking event on Tuesday 13 February at Waitoa on Victoria Street. We’re keen to chat about the campaign, and answer any questions you may have. See you there?

City for People in the media.

Our spokespeople, Jesse and Elena, were on the front page of The Post this week: Housing debate is back, calling on councillors to commit to our five asks.

Elena Wood, 21, a law student involved in the campaign through Generation Zero, said the coalition’s points could still be adopted because they had been discussed at the hearings.

“[Councillors are] free to have regard to our asks as long as they went before the panel.”

Richardson, 22, said the vote was the key decision for determining whether Wellington became more affordable housing-wise or continued on its trajectory of spiralling rents.

“If we miss this opportunity, we're going to see the current situation continue into the future. So it's really important that we get this action point right.”

The asks for the campaign were reasonable and normal compared to other cities in New Zealand like Auckland, he said.

“We’re not looking to make sweeping changes, we’re just looking to allow more houses so people can live comfortably.”

And The Spinoff has launched a special editorial project on the on the District Plan vote, including a dedicated newsletter that you can sign up for here.

The new District Plan will be the single most important document for this city in our lifetime, but it risks flying under the radar, anchored down by layers of impenetrable council bureaucracy (the draft plan is 1266 pages long and filled with technical jargon). Our goal at The Spinoff is to fight back against that. We want to turn this into a story that ignites the entire city, so every Wellingtonian has at least some idea of what is happening, why it matters, and has the chance to call their local councillor and demand change. 

We recommend The Spinoff’s simple guide to Wellington’s District Plan and why you should care about it. If you’ve still got questions, you can check out our FAQs page:

Frequently asked questions

I contributed an opinion piece to The Post on Friday, setting out our five asks: A bold District Plan will free us from our housing doom loop.

Ten years ago, Housing Minister Nick Smith said “we have got a constipated planning system, bogging new residential construction”. It’s time for some fibre: zoning reform.”

[…]

If we can unlock housing supply, we can unlock housing affordability – it’s boring, basic, Economics 101. Wellington’s new District Plan is a golden opportunity to change the zoning rules and enable more homes to be built.

The big news this week: the Independent Hearings Panel has released it’s first set of recommendations to the council… and it’s bad. Really bad. We were expecting well-reasoned, evidenced-based advice from experts. Instead we got a set of nonsensical hot takes from a bunch of people who slept through Economics 101 in school.

We’re glad to see some people were awake in class though - the Panel’s advice has been roundly slammed in the press.

From Joel at The Spinoff: The first recommendations for the future of Wellington’s housing are in, and they’re shit.

To start, the panel considered two very tricky questions: would making it easier to build more houses lead to more houses being built? And would an increase in housing supply help improve housing affordability?

It might seem like a simple question for anyone who learned about supply and demand in NCEA level one economics, or even a toddler who has grasped the basic concepts of cause and effect. Not so much for the Independent Hearings Panel: “We agree that enabling intensification does not, of itself, improve or even address affordability.”

This would be news to the authors of dozens of studies worldwide showing that enabling intensification and providing for growth does in fact improve and address affordability. 

And in The Post: Housing intensification report criticised for ‘scoffing’ at economics.

Economist Stuart Donovan from Motu Research said the conclusions were “contrary to a large body of economic evidence formed from studies both in New Zealand and overseas.”

[…]

Theodore Heeringa from affordable housing advocacy group A City for People said the panel had got it wrong and misunderstood the evidence about how planning regulations could lead to more affordable homes. “Constricting housing supply does not help the housing crisis,” he said.

Thank you for your donations!

We’d like to extend a huge mihi to all the people who have made a donation in the last week to support our campaign. So far, we’ve raised $2400. Your koha will help us run impactful ad campaigns and make sure all eyes in Wellington are on the District Plan vote.

Make a donation

Can you share our asks on social media?

Help us spread the word and make sure councillors can’t ignore our voices when they vote on March 14. Look for our posts on Twitter @CityforPeopleNZ, Instagram @cityforpeoplenz, and Facebook.

It’s been a massive week for our campaign. This is a fight that we can win - we’ve done it before, and we can do it again. Together, we can convince our council to make sensible choices that enable more homes in Wellington.

Ngā mihi nui,

Eleanor, and the City for People team.

City for People is back.

In 2021, we successfully campaigned for an ambitious Spatial Plan for Wellington that would enable our city to build more homes. But the Spatial Plan is not legally binding – it’s just a blueprint. We need to make sure councillors carry the ambition of the Spatial Plan into the new District Plan: the rulebook for the next 30 years. 

City for People has been on hiatus for a while. Hard-working, effective volunteers like ours are in high demand and can’t be everywhere at once. But we’ve put the band back together to launch another impactful campaign for Wellington’s future.

We’ve heard that Wellington City Council will be finalising the new District Plan in March 2024. Councillors must say yes to building more homes in our city.

Here’s how you can help:

Read and share our five asks of city councillors.

Read our asks

Spread the word – forward this email, share our posts on social media, and make sure your friends and whānau are on our mailing list.

Subscribe now

Check out our website for answers to all your questions about the District Plan and why it is critical for the future of our city. 

Read our FAQs

Chip in! If you’re in a position to give koha to our campaign, we’d appreciate your donation. We operate on a shoe-string budget and your money could go a long way.

Make a donation

Are you part of an organisation that might want to sign on, and support our campaign? Reply directly to this email and we can have a conversation. 

Ngā mihi nui,

Eleanor, Marko, and the City for People team

City for People is a non-partisan coalition of individuals and organisations — including Generation Zero, Renters United, Women in Urbanism, Parents for Climate Aotearoa, the Sustainability Trust, and Cycle Wellington — who share a progressive and sustainable vision for Wellington and are working together to advocate for change. 

In 2021, City for People successfully campaigned for an sensible Spatial Plan for Wellington that would enable our city to build more homes. But the Spatial Plan is not legally binding – it’s just a blueprint.

City for People spokesperson, Jesse Richardson, says Councillors must say yes to building more homes in our city when the District Plan goes to Council for a final vote in March.

“Everyone in Wellington should have a chance to live in a home that is affordable, accessible, healthy and warm. That isn’t a reality for far too many people in our city, and that’s why we are calling on the Council to take bold action to address this crisis.

“We made great progress with the pro-housing Spatial Plan but at this stage it is just a blueprint – we need Councillors to make this a reality by voting yes to affordable housing in the District Plan, which is the rule-book for the next 30 years.

“This is a key decision-point for all Councillors. If people can’t afford to live in our city it will stagnate and die.

“We are campaigning for a city built for people. A city all of us can share – where there are enough homes for everyone, it’s easy to get around, and we have choices about the types of homes we want to live in, and which of our local communities we want to put down roots in.”

Generation Zero spokesperson, Elena Wood, says the new District Plan is critical for the future of Wellington.

“This is an opportunity for change. Our city is growing and we want to welcome new neighbours. We need our city councillors to change the rules and make it easier to build more homes where people want to live.”

We’re asking Wellington City Councillors to:

1. Raise building height limits in the city centre or remove them all together.

2. Increase what’s considered “walkable” from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. 

3. Recognise that the Johnsonville train line and the Newtown bus route are “mass-rapid transit” routes.

4. Apply the Medium Density Residential Standards consistently across the whole city.

5. Keep special character areas the same size agreed to in the Spatial Plan.

City for People’s website sets out our vision for Wellington and explains why each of our five asks are important for the future of our city.  

Refer to our website for detailed explanations of our five asks and other FAQs. 

Media liaison contact: 027 529 1079

cityforpeoplenz@gmail.com 

Twitter: @CityForPeopleNZ

Photo by Chun Fei Chin on Unsplash

“New Zealand’s two major political parties are coming together to say an emphatic YES to housing in our backyards.” This is how Nicola Willis of the National Party described the historic moment of bi-partisanship when National and Labour came together and committed to the Medium Density Residential Standards, taking serious action on the housing crisis. Chris Bishop described it as an “historic day, as Labour and National join forces to speed up housing supply.” 

We agree. National and Labour’s bipartisan support for making it easier to build more homes was an inspiring moment of political unity and a major step forward towards thriving, sustainable, affordable cities. 

We are deeply disappointed by National Leader Christopher Luxon’s indications that he no longer supports this transformational policy. We urge the National caucus to come together and re-commit their party to supporting a better future for our cities, for all New Zealanders. 

New Zealand has one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the world because of density restrictions that make it hard to build enough homes to keep up with our growing urban population. These new standards will enable us to build more desperately needed homes in well-connected, existing communities where people want to live. This policy is world-leading and other countries are now looking to New Zealand for guidance – we’re on the global stage.

Suggesting that New Zealand should allow councils to opt-out of building enough homes is a slap in the face for anyone who wants affordable housing or cares about the environment. Young people should rightly despair for their future if this backdown from Luxon is the new direction for housing policy in New Zealand.

Luxon’s preferred alternative is the status quo: greenfield development. He is proposing most new housing should be built on the city fringes in lonely, isolated suburbs. This will come at a cost. Servicing low-density greenfield developments with public transport, pipes and electricity is expensive and councils around the country are already facing infrastructure spending shortfalls in the billions. His plan will make the infrastructure deficit worse. Building homes closer together in existing suburbs makes better use of the infrastructure we already have, and means new infrastructure can be delivered more efficiently. 

Under Luxon’s vision, the cities in Aotearoa will continue to sprawl outwards. House prices and rents will continue to sky-rocket, locking our young people out of secure housing futures, and pushing more and more vulnerable people into poverty. More sprawl will force people to be dependent on their cars, spending hours a day stuck in traffic. His vision means more congestion and more carbon emissions – it will become impossible for us to meet our zero-carbon commitments. Paving over more nature-spaces for low-density housing is wasteful and will only make our stormwater run-off problems worse. Haven’t we learnt a lesson from the Auckland Floods? 

The Medium Density Residential Standards have already been subjected to sensible changes that were widely supported. These included adding appropriate recession planes to allow light to neighbours, and ensuring developers are not prevented from providing car parking for new builds if they want to. Councils are also already implementing exemptions in areas prone to seismic risk, sea level rise, and flooding, and areas with colonial character they want to protect. Luxon wants councils to have more control to restrict development in the wealthy villa-belts. But councils already have enough control – they don’t need more.

Changing track now is bad policy-making. It would pull the rug out from under councils around the country that have already done so much work to implement the new standards.  It would set a worrying precedent, and create a culture of uncertainty in the planning system during a time of economic unease. Home-builders are already gaining consents, making investment plans and building houses under these new rules. Making a change now would hurt their business at a time when their margins are already thin. 

Backing down on supporting this policy is not only bad for our cities and our people, but also bad for the political culture in Aotearoa. We all like seeing the politicians we elected come together and collaborate constructively to build a better future for all of us. We don't like seeing them turn our futures into a political football. The housing crisis harms everyone and it will take a long time to fix. We all need to do our parts and stand together to create positive change. 

We changed our website platform over to Substack at the end of 2023. The above post has been copied from our original site.

Photo by Wolf Zimmermann on Unsplash.

Through Let’s Get Wellington Moving, the District Plan, and the Bike Network Plan, implementing the right transport and housing package for Wellington will ensure that everyone has access to affordable, quality housing along active and public transport routes that reduce emissions and connect our city. 

Decisions about transport and urban planning are deeply interlinked, not just with each other, but with protection of the climate, increasing affordable housing, and improving quality of life.

LGWM

Today’s transport challenges are no longer about making it easier for more and more people to drive through the heart of our city. With the twin crises of climate change and the housing crisis at our doorstep, the decisions made now have to be about urgently tackling these massive challenges.

Option 4 presents the best opportunity to tackle these challenges together.

Light rail to Island Bay along Taranaki St is crucial for enabling 21,000 more homes in Wellington and providing a high-capacity high-frequency low-carbon alternative to car travel for people to get around our city, along with bus priority to the east.

Other proposals for new tunnelling at the Basin Reserve are unnecessary and expensive, both in time and money. Option four is the lowest cost and the fastest to deliver, meaning we can get action taken on the urgent climate and housing crises sooner. LGWM is proving to be a long process, and the climate and housing crises can’t afford for us to waste any more time. Any possible effort to speed up completion of LGWM should be made.

District Plan

The ambitious Spatial Plan passed by Wellington City Council was a huge win for everyone impacted by the housing crisis in Wellington, but now we have to ensure that the District Plan delivers the full potential of the Spatial Plan, and goes even further to enable a range of housing types, to decolonise our city, and to ensure there are accessible housing options. 

The District Plan is the rulebook for the quantity and quality of homes we can build. The previous District Plan prioritised the interests of existing homeowners, landlords, and property speculators over the interests of renters, first home buyers, and everyone else experiencing the impacts of the housing crisis.We want a District Plan that enables tens of thousands more quality homes to address our dire housing shortage. Our new housing rulebook should celebrate welcoming people into homes that are functional, affordable, diverse, and liveable - and avoiding prescriptive and arbitrary requirements that have made so many kinds of housing illegal and unachievable.

The District Plan should work to decolonise our city, recognising the tino rangatiratanga of mana whenua, ensuring strong environmental protections, and enabling indigenous housing models such as papakāinga.

The District Plan must also recognise the crisis within the housing crisis: the dire shortage of accessible housing. The District Plan must do everything it can to ensure as much new housing as possible is accessible and implements Universal Design principles.

Bike Network

We strongly support the Council’s plan for a 147km bike network. Alongside LGWM, this plan will ensure more people can get around our city safely, sustainably, and conveniently, without contributing to the city’s high transport emissions.

Creating space for people to bike, whether to work, to school, to go out for brunch, or shopping, is essential infrastructure for enabling more people to move around our city while contributing to the livability of our streets, and the climate.

The Bike Network Plan is a very welcome development from Wellington City Council, but it could go even further. The plan should also aim to create low-traffic neighbourhoods right across our city. While the bike network will greatly improve connections to the central city and between suburbs, we also need biking to be comfortable within neighbourhoods and suburbs. 

For biking to be taken up as transport by more people, we need local streets to be comfortable and attractive for people - especially children and disabled people - moving about in their own neighbourhoods. Low-traffic neighbourhoods also make walking a more attractive option, and improves quality of life for residents. 

While the mass transit construction will be a major construction effort, space for biking can be much more adaptable and quick to deliver. Space for people on bikes could support a faster transition to climate-friendly mobility while waiting for the larger projects. 

A City For People

Generation Zero, Cycle Wellington, Renters United, and others, will be campaigning for as many people as possible to submit on these three transformational plans for our city over the next six weeks, supporting our elected representatives to implement ambitious plans that deliver for people and the planet.

We can have a city with abundant, affordable, quality, and accessible housing, in thriving communities full of green space and native bush, served by high-capacity, frequent, and sustainable light rail and buses, and connected by a network of safe bike routes. There is massive opportunity within these three plans, and it’s crucial that Wellington City fully embraces this opportunity at this critical moment.

A City For People is a coalition of Generation Zero, Cycle Wellington, Renters United, and others who have joined forces to campaign on their shared vision for the future of housing and transport in Wellington City as the mega-consultation on LGWM, the District Plan, and the Bike Network Plan begins. 

Media Contact: Asia Brownlie asia@generationzero.org.nz

Art by Erin Daily.

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The winner of the grand prize, Wellington’s Next Top Mould-el, takes homes $610 - the average weekly rent in Wellington (as of April 2021).

When this tenant moved into her flat: “the kitchen floors were stuck with oily grime and I don't think the oven had ever been cleaned in our weird makeshift kitchen that had a handmade bench out of pallets ?!? A passing comment from our landlord once was ‘yeah when me and my mate bought the place in 1997, we just slapped this kitchen together, didn't know what we were doing’. Nice. Oh but this is where the story gets to the mould… welcome bathroom to the chat. It was a swift hop, skip and a jump to dodge as much floor as possible to get into the bath/shower each time I had to spend a moment in that room. I'd never seen anything like it, and I've lived in some crap flats in Wellington. Look, I'll just let the photos do the talking.”

Weekly rent: $920 (4 bedrooms)

Years rented: 2020

Suburb: Mount Cook

Here at City for People, we extend our congratulations (and sympathies).

Wellington’s Next Top Mould-el in the media

City for People spokesperson, Marko Garlick, spoke to the The Spinoff, Revealed: Wellington’s mouldiest rental homes:

Mushrooms, perma-soggy floors, and mummified rats: the biodiversity of our capital city’s “character”-filled rental homes has been flooding the inbox of A City for People. The organisation, which is a coalition of Generation Zero, Renters United and other concerned citizens, had a tough time picking the worst of a bad bunch – but they’ve done it.

The photos and stories witnessed by the judging panel were so wild they had to chuckle. “Because if you didn’t chuckle you would cry,” said spokesperson Marko Garlick.

“You can almost feel yourself getting asthma from looking at all that black mould. Many of our entrants told us they did indeed get asthma.” 

The pestilent conditions many renters are living in could be funny, but A City for People says the widespread dilapidation in Wellington rentals is symptomatic of the housing crisis. “We created this competition as a tongue-and-cheek gag in an otherwise fierce and polarising debate,” said Garlick. “We want to show councillors the result of hundreds of hectares of ‘character’ protection and council-enforced housing scarcity.”

And to The Dominion Post, What does $920 per week in rent get you? Wellington's mouldiest flat revealed:

The photos are disgusting but sadly familiar to anyone who has flatted in the capital: mould, fungi, rotten floors, and even mummified rats.

The group “A City for People” created a competition to find Wellington’s mouldiest flat as a tongue-and-cheek gag in an otherwise fierce and polarising debate. “Wellington’s Next Top Mould-el,” they called it.

Renters sent in their worst Wellington housing photos and stories to win a prize of $610 – an amount equivalent to the capital’s weekly median rent.

But the competition had a serious side, said City for People spokesperson Marko Garlick​.

“These flats are bad, but so are most flats. The photos and stories were so wild it made you chuckle, because if you didn’t chuckle you would cry,” he said. “We want to show councillors the result of hundreds of hectares of character protection and council-enforced housing scarcity.”

A few days ago our spokesperson, Eleanor West, was interviewed on The Project (video) as part of coverage on the competition entries so far.

“We want to councillors to remember the people who are suffering through the housing crisis. We want them to think about these people when they vote on the Spatial Plan, and pass an ambitious Plan that provides housing for people.”

And last week she caught up with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ Afternoons (audio), to chat about the photo competition entries so far:

“it’s going really well in the sense that, we’ve had a lot of entries. But that’s a bad thing because it means there are a lot of mouldy, terrible homes in Wellington. So from my perspective, it’s great! But from the perspective of people living in those homes? My heart bleeds for them.”

Spot Prizes

The Story Teller

We’ll let this entry do the talking:

"Great flat if you love living in sub-Antarctic conditions and those who love water because nothing you own will every be dry. It was lovely going to bed I damp sheets every night, with the roof dripping onto you, waking up cold just to put on damp and musty smelling clothing. I was lucky enough to have the only room with insulation and I sure knew it because I could see the outline of each bat moulded through on the roof. The corner walls of my room were made from the corflute sign used the sell the flat that they had taped together painted over and placed long curtains overtop. This wall dripped into a puddle on the constant mouldy floor whenever it rained. Our oil was often solid as it was sub par freezing and we couldn't use any salt as it clumped even when triple baged. Black mould was absolutely everywhere and I developed situational asthma flat this lovely place. Our bathroom wall had completely rotten through the tiles we're slowly falling off the wall. We had a hole in our longe floor boards, once a bag brushed against the wall and part of it broke off. Our outside drain was broken so they covered it with a board and our house flooded in heavy rain one day. Overall a great flat, I would - 10/10 recommend!"

We have to assume this renter is dripping sarcasm.

Weekly rent: $850 (5 bedrooms)

Years rented: 2020

Suburb: Northland

The Shroom Room

Just some fun guys and some fungi living in this flat.

It started with a leak, escalating to "the point that mould and mushrooms were growing in the lounge and shower, carpet rotted, if we turned on the hall way lights or spa pool room lights (spa pool didn't work and couldn't be emptied so just had stagnant water sitting in it) it would trip the circuits. One of the light fittings in the kitchen caught fire at one point. End up starting the tenancy tribunal process but settled outside of court and got out of there!"

Weekly rent: $760 (3 bedrooms)

Years rented: 2020

Suburb: Maupuia

The Yimbys just flexed their muscles on density, and did not lose - Stuff 26 June 2021

'Bold', 'visionary', 'historic': What does an ambitious spatial plan mean for Wellington's future? - Stuff 26 June 2021

A City For People Declares Victory As Wellington City Council Passes An Ambitious Spatial Plan - Scoop 25 June 2021

2021: A spatial odyssey with the Wellington City Council - The Spinoff 25 June 2021

What does $920 per week in rent get you? Wellington's mouldiest flat revealed - Stuff 25 June 2021

Wellington's Next Top Mould-el - The Project (video) 21 June 2021

How the Spatial Plan can help the housing crisis – a public forum - Scoop 18 June 2021

Young people to Wellington City Council: We want immediate action on the housing crisis - Dominion Post 17 June 2021

Wellington watering down its proposed spatial plan - RNZ (audio) 17 June 2021

Finding Wellington's Next Top Mould-el - RNZ (audio) 9 June 2021

Competition launched to find Wellington's mouldiest flat Newstalk ZB 3 June 2021

Is your flat Wellington's next top Mould-el? Competition launched to find the worst flat NZ Herald 3 June 2021

A City For People: We Want More Homes For All In Wellington - The Council Must Pass An Ambitious Spatial Plan Scoop 31 May 2021

We changed our website platform over to Substack at the end of 2023. The above post has been copied from our original site.

A City for People, Generation Zero, and Renters United are elated that Wellington City Councillors passed a more ambitious Spatial Plan today that goes above and beyond the original Draft Spatial Plan. They have taken real action on the housing crisis and will ensure we provide more homes for all. 

Over the past months, we have strived to give platform to the under-represented voices in this conversation about Wellington’s future. This space has been dominated by the privileged few; conservative resident’s associations, landlords, property speculators, and heritage lobby groups who benefit from this broken system. They have strong incentives to maintain this status quo at the expense of this city’s real character - its people. We’re proud to have been able to radically change the direction of debate to center intergenerational equity, the decolonisation of our built environment, and people’s right to adequate and accessible housing. 

There has been a national spotlight on this campaign thanks to strong advocacy from so many people across the region. Thanks to the pressure you have all brought we’re finally seeing a shift in Council on this issue. Councillors are recognising that decades of inaction mean house prices and rents are out of control, while badly maintained properties rot from underneath us. People are being priced out of the city, spending hours each day commuting while the city sprawls and our emissions rise.

We would like to thank the Councillors who stood up for a progessive vision for our city - your efforts to push this plan further are deeply appreciated. We applaud the 1,300+ residents of Wellington who made their voices heard and signed our petition demanding action from the Council, and got this more ambitious Spatial Plan across the lineThank you to the people who shared their housing stories with us and entered our photo competition - your words and pictures have made this an issue no one could ignore. 

The outcome of today’s vote will enable thousands more of the homes that Wellington desperately needs. The reduction of the colonial character precincts and the increases to walkable catchments around public transport and the centre city are both big wins for action on the housing and climate crises. The outcome of these changes are a plan that goes above and beyond the original Draft Spatial Plan. This is a strong signal to other cities in New Zealand that it’s time to step up and implement the NPS-UD to enable enough homes for all.

However, this isn’t the end of the process. Over the next two years, this Spatial Plan will inform the development of the new District Plan. We are committed to supporting a District Plan that allows Wellington to plan for the future but are disappointed that legislation requires such a delay in implementing this vision with two extra consultations and a court process. 2024 is too long to wait to fix our housing crisis, which is severe and getting worse by the day. We now call on Central Government to intervene and speed up the implementation of the NPS-UD and fund infrastructure to realise this new development capacity.

Ngā mihi nui,

A City for People, Generation Zero, and Renters United

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