Putting quality back into housing

By - , Build 137

Current debates about housing shortages and affordable homes are skirting the question of quality. Involving Architects in new developments could deliver appealing, fit-for-purpose homes.

Teena Pennington portrait
Teena Pennington portrait

Housing issues are all over the news lately, and they’re dominating politics as well. There’s the government’s plan to build 39,000 Auckland houses in 3 years, Labour’s scheme to build 100,000 dwellings in a decade, proposed legislation such as the Housing Accords and Special Areas Housing Bill, announcements of new funding for social housing and controversies around the draft Auckland Unitary Plan.

The elephant in the room

While there’s much excitement about anticipated improvements in affordability, increased land supply, streamlined approval processes and improvements in social housing, one topic has been absent from the current debate – the demand for quality across all housing options for New Zealanders.

I’m not just referring to the quality of builders’ workmanship or construction materials. These are important, but quality means much more – it entails liveability, design standards, environmental responsibility and beneficial social effects.

A recent Parliamentary exchange between Nick Smith, the Minister of Housing, and Phil Twyford, his Labour Party shadow, highlights how the issue of quality is absent from the housing agenda. When Mr Twyford asked the Minister if he stood by his comment ‘that Aucklanders need to accept lower-quality developments if they want affordable housing’, Dr Smith replied, ‘We need to have an upfront discussion about the balance between affordability and quality.’

Treat quality and affordability equally

My question to politicians, builders, landowners, renters, homeowners, architects, councils, product manufacturers and suppliers and the finance industry is, ‘Can we not demand both quality and affordability from our housing?’

As the Productivity Commission laid out in its 2011 issues paper on housing affordability, housing is the single biggest expenditure for most New Zealand households and comprises the main share of both household assets and debt. Why, then, isn’t housing quality a priority? Especially when extensive research has found that housing quality is closely linked to health outcomes.

Ramping up supply

The emphasis on increasing supply levels and improving economic performance seems to imply that considerations of quality should not impede housing delivery. There should be greater clarity over priorities, and architects need to be empowered and encouraged to shape developments around quality and design criteria. The potential economic downsides of poorly designed homes and neighbourhoods should be taken into account.

Growth balanced with good design

Pursuing delivery targets without balancing them with other objectives is likely to degrade the quality of whatever is built. Unit numbers alone are a blunt measure of success. It says nothing about whether what is built is fit for purpose or of decent quality. With the level of government involvement in the housing market higher than at any time since the early State House programme 70 years ago, the real questions facing consumers, the government and the housing industry have been overlooked:

  • Are the products – new houses and their neighbourhoods – fit for purpose?
  • Are they of sufficient quality?

Architects ready to help

There is good news. There’s huge potential for the new home market to be expanded by placing more emphasis on design quality and by providing a more diverse product. Architects, through their training, design knowledge and practical experience of building projects, are essential to securing quality houses. They want to work alongside everyone who cares about the standard of New Zealanders’ homes and the quality of New Zealanders’ lives.

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Teena Pennington portrait
Teena Pennington portrait

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