Housing pressures in Christchurch:
A summary of the evidence
March 2013

Executive summary

Recent earthquakes in the greater Christchurch area have raised concerns about housing availability for people resident in the area. This report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) responds to those concerns by summarising the available evidence on recent housing pressures in the greater Christchurch area, and providing an initial estimate of the number of people who lack secure housing.

No reliable statistics are available on the number of people living in insecure housing. To generate an estimate of the scale of housing insecurity the report starts with a baseline established by a study of homelessness in Christchurch, supplemented by 2006 Census figures on people living in overcrowded housing. Qualitative information from non-government organisations in the area is used to identify plausible increases in the numbers of people living without shelter or in temporary or emergency shelter. Estimates of the housing stock lost due to earthquakes are used to identify the potential increase in numbers of people living in crowded conditions with other households. Through this approach, the report’s initial estimate of the scale of insecure housing is expressed as a broad range. That range runs between 5,510 and 7,405 residents, up from 3,750 before the earthquakes.

For the purpose of this report, the term ‘housing insecurity’ is used to reflect the Statistics New Zealand definition of homelessness as ‘living situations where people with no other options to acquire safe and secure housing: are without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing accommodation with a household or living in uninhabitable housing.’

This report draws on the available statistical information for the greater Christchurch area, as well as reviews of research literature on homelessness, case studies among a sample of people who have experienced housing problems since the earthquakes, and information from non-government organisations working in the greater Christchurch area. The area has seen a loss of housing stock and a drop in the availability of new rental housing. Purchase prices and rents have increased. The number of rental units at lower prices has declined, and there has been an increase in demand for emergency or temporary housing and other types of support for people on low incomes.

christchurchhousingreport.pdf

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