Rotorua Housing Accord

The Rotorua Housing Accord (the Accord) is a commitment between Government, Rotorua Lakes Council and Te Arawa Iwi to work together towards better housing and social outcomes for Rotorua.

Rotorua faces significant housing challenges

New housing supply in Rotorua has not kept up with population growth.

The population of our district grew by about 9000 people between June 2013 and August 2022. During that time 1600 homes were consented and fewer than that have been completed.

We have seen rising house prices and increased rents, with median house prices rising by 148% from June 2013 to June 2022 (compared to 113% nationally), and median weekly rents increasing 104% during the same period (compared to 59% nationally).

While homeowners have seen an increase in the value of their homes, renters have experienced rising rental costs and first home buyers have needed to save for larger deposits.

All of this has resulted in an increasing number of individuals and whānau finding themselves homeless and having to rely on emergency housing.

Barriers to building more homes in Rotorua have included:

a restrictive district plan and infrastructure constraints;
geotechnical issues adding to development costs;
the rising cost of construction and now interest rates affecting the profitability of developments.

The gap between local incomes and the cost of new housing has also widened over time, leaving a gap between the cost of building new homes and what individuals and whānau can afford.

The Accord will support community wellbeing

The Accord brings together the collective insights, capability and experience of Te Arawa, the Crown and Council, combined with the resources of the Crown and Council to:

reduce the use of emergency housing in Rotorua to near zero as soon as possible;
ensure appropriate emergency housing options are available for those with urgent housing need from Rotorua;
ensure quality delivery of care and wellbeing services to individuals and whānau residing in emergency housing accommodation;
mitigate the unintended adverse social, cultural, economic, and environmental impacts emergency housing has had on the Rotorua community;
ensure the safe transition of individuals and whanau exiting emergency housing accommodation with appropriate support provisions to maintain independent living;
address the chronic housing shortage in Rotorua by increasing the housing supply.

The Accord will focus on:

care, wellbeing and management of emergency housing;
increasing housing supply.

The Accord will increase the supply of houses

This will be achieved by:

building a pipeline of public and affordable housing, including planning and infrastructure requirements, that will meet current and future demand for housing in Rotorua;
growing the overall housing supply;
the Crown and Council actively supporting those Te Arawa Iwi, hapū and lands trusts and incorporations that wish to participate in housing supply to do so;
ensuring new infrastructure and housing supply is responsive to demand and provides for the long term social, cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing of Rotorua and its people.