Housing solutions for low to moderate income families with low equity

Many lower-income households in Aotearoa New Zealand struggle with insecure and unsuitable housing because they don’t qualify for public housing. About 194,000 renter households spend over 30% of their income on housing, and 84,000 spend over 50%. One in four low income and one in ten moderate income renters are paying more than half their gross household income in rent. Housing solutions for low to moderate-income families with low equity aims to find new solutions by learning from other countries’ housing models. Led by Livingston and Associates, the early f indings show that existing housing solutions such as shared equity and rental options are often not affordable for these groups in Aotearoa New Zealand. The main issue is that these households don’t earn enough to cover the costs needed to create returns on affordable housing investment for private suppliers. While the government offers support through the Accommodation Supplement, research findings show that this hasn’t effectively improved affordability. The research is now exploring how to limit housing costs to 30% of household income. Potential solutions being tested include addressing access to affordable capital, resource management reform, local government planning and broader government policies.