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One of the key pillars of our Council’s long term plan vision 2018/2028 is to provide or facilitate the provision of homes for our people.
From social housing to conventional housing, there is a big need for more housing in the Hastings district that’s tailored to meet the diverse needs of our district.
Warm, affordable housing is a priority for some, for others it’s about freeing up land in a strategic, sensitive way that protects our prime fertile soils while giving people an opportunity to own, or build their own home.
In 2019, Hastings became a pilot for the government’s place-based housing initiatives that provide suitable housing solutions for individual communities.
Hastings District Council has partnered with a number of other agencies, organisers and stakeholders to deliver warm, dry and secure housing needed for people and whānau in Hastings.
These partners include: Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Ministry of Social Development, Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Te Puni Kōkiri, Hawke's Bay District Health Board and other housing providers.
There is a significant pipeline of work underway to provide a mix of public housing, affordable housing, papakāinga and additional transitional housing.
With one of the highest rates of housing deprivation in New Zealand, the current housing shortage in Hastings is one of the most pressing challenges facing the district.
Recognising this cannot be addressed overnight, a medium and long term strategy - Kāinga Paneke, Kāinga Pānuku - has been developed.
This builds on the place based plan and aims to deliver sustainable, positive change to build affordable housing, social housing, market housing, Māori housing, senior housing, and RSE accommodation, alongside skills training and employment creation.
Meeting the current and future demand for housing in Hastings is a priority for Hastings District Council, which recently completed a review of its Medium Density Housing strategy. The strategy seeks to protect the district’s versatile soils as well as providing for thousands more homes needed in coming years. Since the strategy was adopted in 2014, housing demand has increased significantly and Central Government expectations on responding to this growth have changed.
The review has identified further work that needs to be undertaken including identifying additional areas where housing can be intensified that have easy access to open public spaces, ongoing investigation and enablement of infrastructure capacity, and continuing with initiatives to partner with the development sector on housing projects. It also recommends changes to the District Plan in the short-term to make medium density development easier in already identified areas. Council has adopted the review and started implementing the recommendations.
A key aspect of council’s housing strategy is a residential development programme that provides certainty for developers and choice in the housing market, being staged at a rate that balances the cost to council of installing the required infrastructure against market demand.
This is taking place across Flaxmere, Frimley, Havelock North and Te Awanga, and other greenfield areas rezoned residential are going through the development process at Howard St, Parkvale, and Iona and Brookfield Rd in Havelock North.
Providing housing while using urban land in an efficient, sustainable way prompted council to make a variation to the proposed district plan to allow residential activity in the upper floors of buildings in the Hastings central commercial zone.
There are other changes to encourage inner-city living, including a car parking and outdoor living space exemption in the central blocks of the City. People living in inner-city housing will be protected by district plan noise controls and those buildings in heritage areas may be subject to additional heritage protections.
Having people living in the heart of the city will contribute to its vibrancy by supporting commercial activities and services, as well as improve community safety with a 24-hour presence of people in the city.
More information can be found on the Variations to the District Plan page of our website.
Council has made changes to the district plan to better provide for seasonal workers accommodation within the district. These changes have been notified and been through a public submission and hearing process under the Resource Management Act.
The change allows for seasonal worker accommodation to be built in the light industrial and general industrial zones at Omahu and Irongate.
These buildings would require a certain level of outdoor open space per resident around them for undertaking recreation activities, comply with noise limits and the buildings would be relocatable to enable industrial use of the site once the accommodation facilities were no longer required.
The variation would also allow for a restricted level of seasonal workers accommodation within the plains production zone.
Limits around this would ensure minimal encroachment on quality growing soils coupled with the requirement that the buildings are relocatable.
New senior housing will be built in Hastings for the first time in about 40 years, with a Resource Consent applicat...
29 August 2024
Four council-owned sites in Flaxmere have now had roading, power and water services installed, either ready, or in ...
26 August 2024
Another milestone in the provision of more housing for the people of Hastings has been reached with the completion ...
22 July 2024
Work on a critical new wastewater project, 50 per cent funded by Central Government, is underway along State Highwa...
2 May 2024
A new subdivision is now ready for houses to be built with the completion of groundworks at 244 Flaxmere Ave.
3 July 2023
Two preferred development partners have been selected to build new homes at 244 Flaxmere Ave, where the groundworks...
15 December 2022
Hastings District Council planners are encouraging Hastings residents to take some time to understand an upcoming p...
8 November 2022
A new tranche of government infrastructure housing is set to enable around 4000 new homes across multiple developme...
14 October 2022
Changes to the way we develop Hastings urban areas are being proposed, and to help the community get information ab...
12 October 2022
Hastings district is growing – more people are coming to live and work here and more houses are needed to meet th...
13 September 2022
The completion of 40 new houses in Kauri Place, Hastings, by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities was celebrated t...
11 August 2022
Meeting the current and future demand for housing in Hastings is a priority for Hastings District Council, which re...
11 July 2022
New houses in Flaxmere are getting closer with road and pipe work well underway, a decision on what development org...
8 July 2022
A grandad raising six grandchildren, a solo mum with two kiddies, a mum and dad with four children who also care fo...
28 April 2022
A hui held last weekend to share information with Flaxmere-based tradespeople about the upcoming construction of ne...
7 April 2022
Hastings District Council is tackling a massive work programme to help manage the rapid and significant growth bein...
22 March 2022
In the past month, a vacant patch of land at 244 Flaxmere Ave has been transformed as groundworks continue at pace ...
25 February 2022
Preparatory work can begin on planning for potential locations for new housing in Hastings, with funding approved f...
10 December 2021
An event held at the Flaxmere Town Centre today officially marked the start of the infrastructure build for three n...
30 November 2021
A recent assessment of housing capacity in the Hastings district has shown that while Hastings District Council’s...
2 November 2021
Preparing council-owned land for additional housing in Flaxmere has taken another step with potential developers no...
10 September 2021
Hastings District Council has scored triple honours in this year’s Local Government New Zealand Excellence Awards...
17 July 2021
With planning well advanced on three blocks of council-owned land in Flaxmere, Hastings District Council is now cal...
14 July 2021
Hastings District Council’s ground-breaking collaborative approach to addressing the district’s critical housin...
7 May 2021
First-home buyers are taking up the opportunity to get on the property ladder, quickly buying sections at the new T...
20 April 2021
Hastings District Council has fast-tracked much-needed housing on council land in Flaxmere, and this week councillo...
19 March 2021
Generating more housing to meet the escalating need at the same time as protecting the district’s productive grow...
18 February 2021
A Hastings District Council housing development in Tarbet Street, Flaxmere, is nearly complete with more than half ...
17 February 2021
With one of the highest rates of housing deprivation in New Zealand, the current housing shortage in Hastings is on...
9 February 2021
This month marks a year since the Hastings Place Based Plan pilot to tackle the housing challenges in the district ...
14 December 2020
The water infrastructure is in place and work on the new street in the Tarbet St housing development in Flaxmere wi...
21 October 2020
Hastings District Council welcomes today’s announcement from Housing Minister Megan Woods and Associate Minister ...
20 August 2020
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst welcomes today’s announcement for the first stage of the government’s investme...
12 December 2019
A meeting with the Minister of Immigration has provided the Hastings District Council an opportunity to air concern...
5 July 2019
The ground will be ‘broken’ for Hastings’ newest and most visionary housing development next week, following ...
11 June 2019
It will soon be easier for employers seeking to accommodate RSE (Recognised Seasonal Employer) workers with a varia...
20 May 2019
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