Wellington is a walkable city, and we're going to prove it
Join us on 11 March as we walk to Newtown and demand more homes in the suburbs close to the city centre.
Wellington’s District Plan is a chance to fix the broken planning rules and rewrite the map, to build more homes where they’re needed the most. Our councillors will make the final decisions on March 14. Join us at one of our in-person events before the vote, and make your voice heard!
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.
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.
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.
