Sallies: Housing crisis shifts to regions

The Salvation Army is warning that while New Zealand has built more homes than population growth required, housing pressure is worsening in many regional communities.

A major new housing stock-take finds the country’s housing challenge is no longer simply about building more houses, but ensuring the right housing is available in the right places at prices people can afford, it says.

The report, Home Truths: What Recent Data on New Zealand’s Housing is Telling Us, shows New Zealand’s housing stock grew by 9.1 per cent between 2021 and 2026, compared with population growth of 5.5 per cent.

Yet housing poverty, overcrowding and unmet social housing demand continue to persist, it says.

Report author Alan Johnson says the findings challenge one of the central assumptions in New Zealand’s housing debate.

“The headline numbers look reasonable. New Zealand has built a lot of houses. But building houses is not the same as housing people well.

“This report shows clearly that the wrong people are getting the wrong housing in the wrong places.

“No [political] party has yet given a convincing answer about what they intend to do about it.”

While housing indicators have improved in Auckland, the report finds conditions are worsening in many regional centres.

Rents have risen sharply in Gisborne, Taranaki, Southland and the West Coast, while social housing waiting lists relative to available stock are most acute in Northland, Bay of Plenty, the West Coast and Southland.

The report also identifies signs of gentrification in some regional communities, with wealthier migrants purchasing homes previously available to renters and reducing rental supply for lower-income households.

“A housing policy calibrated to Auckland will not fix Gisborne,” says Johnson.

“Every party needs to explain what regional housing policy actually looks like in practice. At the moment, none of them has.”

The report highlights the growing burden housing costs place on tenants, with the proportion spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing rising from 44 per cent to 48 per cent between 2021 and 2025.

Housing costs are also identified as the largest contributor to child poverty differentials in New Zealand.

The Salvation Army is making the report freely available as a resource for voters, journalists and political parties ahead of the 2026 General Election.

“Secure, affordable and healthy housing is fundamental to well-being,” says Salvation Army social policy and parliamentary unit director Dr Bonnie Robinson.

“We hope this report contributes to informed discussion about what kind of housing system New Zealanders want and what solutions political parties are proposing.”

• Home Truths: What Recent Data on New Zealand’s Housing is Telling Us is available at: www.salvationarmy.org.nz/HomeTruths.