Housing

Housing and the district plan

The district plan sets out what can be built and where it can be built. It currently defines most of the city’s housing areas as ‘general residential’ as well as eight urban centres where medium density residential is permitted.

The designation of these areas determines what owners can do with their property or how large a building they can build without needing resource consent.

These rules are changing significantly due to new Government laws and regulations to increase housing supply and affordability.

Population and housing in Lower Hutt

Over the next 30 years, about 40,000 more people are expected to live in Lower Hutt, increasing our population to 150,000.   We need nearly 18,000 additional houses to be built to meet this growth.

House building in the city has not kept pace with the growth in population. The shortage of houses is contributing to a steep increase in the cost of both buying and renting houses. There has also been an increase in homelessness. Strong expected demand for housing from single people and couples without children means we don’t currently have the right kinds of housing for these households.

National Policy Statement on Urban Development

Housing problems are not unique to Lower Hutt so the Government issued a National Policy Statement on Urban Development that took effect in August 2020. Amongst other things, the statement instructs councils to allow greater density housing to be built in existing residential areas.

The national policy statement says these areas should be city centre zones, areas within walkable distance of the centre, and areas within walkable distance of rapid transit stops (which in Lower Hutt means railway stations).

The national policy statement says councils must allow buildings of at least six storeys in these areas.

Parliament also passed the Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters Amendment Act in late 2021, allowing housing up to three storeys high in most residential areas, with three dwellings per section.

To comply with the national policy statement and Housing Supply Act, the district plan needs to redefine what can be built and where. District Plan Change 56 is now operational to ensure that the District Plan meets these requirements.

Greenfield development

Greenfield land is land which has not previously been built on. There is very little greenfield land left in Lower Hutt. There are small areas around Wainuiomata and on the western hills, around Kelson for example.

Some of these areas are being developed for housing, but there are issues to solve around transport, limits to earthmoving (to prevent erosion, flood or slip risk) and three waters infrastructure.

Intensification

Intensification of housing means building more dwellings on a given site than there are currently. For example, building three separate dwellings on a section that previously would contain only one. Or building a taller block containing several apartments where previously there would be only single storey houses. In other words, more people could be housed on smaller areas of land.

Some intensification is already possible in most of Lower Hutt in the form of subdividing sections to build a second or third house - infill. In designated medium-density zones, it is already possible to build larger housing blocks up to three storeys high.

The Housing Supply Act (see above), and the Council’s plan change to implement the Act, will mean a significant increase in the level of intensification that is possible across Lower Hutt.

What this means for your neighbourhood

The likely effect of the new national policy and Housing Supply Act will be to gradually change the appearance of areas around our railway stations and urban centres as higher density housing is built.

The purpose of the district plan review is to work out exactly where this kind of development can take place and what rules apply. It will consider how much intensification can be confined to the city centre and where the boundaries will be in the areas around train stations or other possible development locations.

Some residents are understandably concerned that large blocks will be able to be built next to their home and they will be unable to do anything about it. This district plan review is your chance to have a say on how we can follow the new requirements while still shaping the best possible outcomes for the current and future residents of Lower Hutt.

Contact details

Email: dpreview@huttcity.govt.nz