We're on the home stretch. Time for one last big push!
Make your voice heard this week, before councillors vote on the final District Plan on Thursday.
Our councillors will be making final decisions on the District Plan on Thursday.
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.
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
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.
