Regional look at housing?

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 21

Regional look at housing?

PA Wellington Traditional methods of assessing housing needs in New Zealand are no longer relevant because of big economic and social changes, a seminar has been told in Wellington. Dr J. Johnston, a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was speaking at a National Housing Commission seminar on New Zealand’s changing housing needs. The social and economic changes New Zealand was facing were affecting the pattern of household formation and location, she said.

To cope with this, a more regional approach, with emphasis on household formation, had to be taken. There had to be an awareness that housing needs were complex, highly subjective and closely related to social and econfor, housing policy.” There had to be soma

oinic change. “Housing needs should be assessed in terms of the people who need housing and not the numbers of houses needing to be built.” “In order to achieve such assessment of ‘true’ housing needs it is recommended that a regional approach be adopted to the assessment of need. Thus, not only sho ’.ld the focus be social rather than physical, it should also be regional rather than national.”

But Dr Johnston said the main obstacle to working on a regional base was the present Gov-ernment-local government arrangement, and the lack of. definition over shared areas of responsibility. For a regional approach to work, local people had to see something “in it” for them. “That is the political reality. Such a decision involves major changes in the administration of, responsibility action, Dr Johnston said.