In December 2023 [PDF, 144 KB] the Greater Christchurch Partnership Committee endorsed the Joint Housing Action Plan [PDF, 545 KB] and recommended the plan to Partner Councils for adoption. All Partner Councils fully adopted the Joint Housing Action plan in March 2024.
Joint Housing Action Plan presentation to GCPC 8 December 2023 [PDF, 627 KB].
The Plan was collaboratively developed by GCP Partner organisations to address the shared challenge of housing shortages and increasing unaffordability. While solutions exist, they demand broad participation—requiring a comprehensive strategy, decisive leadership, and unified action.
Since its adoption by partner Councils in early 2024, progress has been steadily advancing across the eight interconnected actions outlined in Phase 1.
- Identify publicly-owned sites appropriate for affordable housing development and determine what is required to enable development.
- Identify mechanisms to enable development of affordable housing on public land.
- Investigate collective inclusionary zoning across all three TAs to increase the supply of social and affordable rental housing.
- Investigate incentivises to encourage development of affordable rental housing.
- Investigate expanding development contribution rebates to all councils, and including social, affordable rental and progressive home ownership.
- Support nationwide advocacy to enable innovative approaches such as build-to-rent development.
- Investigate expanding the Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust model.
- Develop a monitoring and implementation framework to track progress.
Review the Joint Housing Action Plan [PDF, 545 KB] (JHAP) for more detail on why we need the plan, the scale of the problem and information about Phase 1 and 2 that outline future actions.
As part of the Joint Housing Action Plan, Phase 1 findings and options were presented at the Committee meeting held on 13 December 2024 [PDF, 32 MB]. This included a workshop session where feedback was gathered from attendees.
The workshop materials were informed by two key documents developed during Phase 1:
- JHAP Phase 1 Findings report [PDF, 1 MB]
- JHAP Phase 1 - Indicative Economics Assessment report [PDF, 1 MB]
Key Insights from Phase 1
The Phase 1 investigations identified the most effective levers available to partner organisations for improving social and affordable housing outcomes:
- Leveraging partner land holdings for housing development
- Securing funding and financing to support housing projects
- Implementing pro-housing policy changes that empower Mana Whenua, Community Housing Providers, and Community Housing Trusts (CHPs/CHTs)
- Partnering and advocating to influence external factors beyond GCPC’s direct control, such as government legislation and investment attraction
These findings informed partner briefings held in February 2025, and a follow-up workshop at the 7 March Committee meeting [PDF, 8.7 MB]. Feedback from this session directly shaped the development of Phase 2 actions.
The Phase 2 Actions of the Joint Housing Action Plan (JHAP) were endorsed at the 23 May 2025 Committee meeting [PDF, 43 MB]. These actions will be delivered in tranches, starting with those that have minimal upfront financial implications.
Tranche 1: Progress Now
These are actions with limited upfront financial impact and can be advanced quickly. The goal is for the Committee to consider, and ideally for Partners to make, implementation decisions within the 2025/26 financial year.
Tranche 2: Assess & Scope
These actions are more complex and have the potential for significant impact. They require further assessment to understand likely costs, potential affordable housing yield, and the scope of work needed for implementation in Phase 3. This will enable informed decision-making beyond the 2025/26 financial year.
Partner staff will carry out the necessary work to provide the Committee with a clearer understanding of the expected cost range for each action within both tranches. This staged approach ensures Partner resources are used effectively while developing the next level of detail.
Regular updates will be provided as this work progresses.
Improving affordability and meeting the needs of the changing population
The GCP collectively is tackling NZ’s pervasive housing affordability crisis with the implementation of the joint Housing Action Plan.
The plan recognises that the adverse social and economic outcomes of insufficient, inappropriate, inadequate and unaffordable housing are apparent in Greater Christchurch; problems that can only be tackled collectively.
The GCP is using its combined levers and resources to improve the provision of quality, affordable housing in suitable locations and improved housing choices. Intervention in the market is needed if a different and better outcome is to be achieved.
There is no single silver bullet. Housing unaffordability is a dynamic, interrelated issue requiring a collective approach. We are looking under every rock for solutions, and our partners – central government, local and regional government, and mana whenua – each have tools at their disposal that could help improve affordability and contribute to realising the aspirations of the Spatial Plan.
Specifically in Greater Christchurch, there are four significant gaps in the market:
- Emergency/transitional housing. In May 2024 there are 336 adults and 357 children in Greater Christchurch in emergency housing (Source MSD(external link)).
- Social housing. In March 2024 there were 2500 households on the MSD waiting list in Christchurch City, 103 in Waimakariri and 78 in Selwyn (Source: HUD(external link)).
- Affordable housing – rentals and progressive home ownership (in March 2024 there were 26,382 people in CCC, 2,475 in SDC and 3,480 receiving the Accommodation Supplement (Source: MSD(external link)).
- Typologies that match the changing demographic demand: the supply-side predominance of 3-4 bedroom homes contributes to the under-utilisation of housing; while in Christchurch, smaller houses are being built but at a price well above the affordability threshold for low- and modest-income households (source: Foy, R. (2023), Social Impacts of Housing Intensification: Research Review - CCC, 2023: 29.
The status quo is leading to rising housing unaffordability. This is compounded by the unregulated market for short-term rentals. It is further compounded by unprecedented migration, which also fuels rental inflation.