Calls for KiwiBuild to be more inclusive

The Government should be taking more responsibility and using its power to ‘‘dictate the future of accessible housing stock in Aotearoa’’, says a first home buyer.

But the Government hasn’t prioritised people with accessibility, disability or mobility needs through the current KiwiBuild ballot system.

Aych McArdle lives with the impacts of a traumatic brain injury. Although they and their partner don’t require mobility accessibility at this stage in their lives, ‘‘it was absolutely front of mind in our dreams, so that all our friends and family could visit’’, they said. ‘‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if all our homes could be accessible so that disabled people could access all parts of society?’’

They found a property developer and apartment building they liked and were originally unsuccessful entering the KiwiBuild ballot. McArdle and their partner ranked their preference for a ground-floor apartment for accessibility.

‘‘Just by luck’’ they were successful in securing a ground-floor home that was a direct sale through the KiwiBuild programme.

McArdle said there were two main accessibility issues when it came to the KiwiBuild programme – the ballot process and the available stock of accessible options.

‘‘There was no cordoning off resource, and I would absolutely support that being reserved for particular access needs, or lifestyle needs ormodifications.’’

They said they were ‘‘outraged’’ that the process was not more accessible.

McArdle said the Government ‘‘holds all the strings’’ because it secures whole developments to be built.

‘‘A lot of housing developments that are mixed KiwiBuild and open market are being guaranteed by the KiwiBuild scheme, so that’s giving the developer enough money to guarantee the whole development.’’ .’’

Accessibility ‘not that hard’

Geoff Penrose, general manager at Lifemark, agrees the Government should prioritise accessible housing.

Lifemark provides advice around making buildings accessible for people with disabilities.

‘‘I think that when Government money is involved, and that’s Government money in terms of any type of grant, incentive or any type of work subsidies that go out, they should say ‘actually, we want this money to go into housing that’s going to be liveable for more people and accessible’,’’ he said. ‘‘It seems that we’re quite happy to spend extramoney to improve the environmental performance of housing, and we completely support that. But why aren’t we equally spending the money to improve the accessibility of the dwellings?’’

He said it’s possible to make medium to high-density housing accessible, for example, by installing a lift into terraced housing.

Lifemark worked with Fletcher Living on a development in Christchurch which included 20 three-storey terrace units and they all had lifts installed.

He said more people need to be made aware that incorporating accessibility ‘‘is not that hard’’.

Property developer NZ Living has built nearly 700 homes in recent years, and twothirds of them were part of the KiwiBuild scheme. In February this year, it teamed up with Simplicity KiwiSaver to build 10,000 affordable, long-term rentals in the next 10 years, under Simplicity Living.

Shane Brealey of NZ Living said 30% of Simplicity Living’s new homes would be compliant with universal design standards – a set of guidelines to make buildings accessible to people of all abilities at any stage of life.

In its three-storey walk-up buildings, all the downstairs-level homes were to be universally designed.

And any multi-storey buildings would have a lift installed.

Brealey said there were no additional costs to base designs to make homes accessible.

A spokesperson for Housing Minster Megan Woods said the Government was committed to improving accessibility across all forms of housing in New Zealand.

However, it did not collect data on how many KiwiBuild homes were accessible, and it was the responsibility of private developers in the KiwiBuild programme to incorporate accessibility in designs.

‘‘All KiwiBuild homes, including those delivered by private developers, are built to a standard which is in line with the Building Act – and satisfy the price caps of the KiwiBuild programme.’’

The Building Act 2004 states a ‘‘reasonable and adequate provision’’ should be made to ‘‘buildings, premises, or facilities to which the public are to be admitted’’. However, there were no requirements for residential properties to have mobility access.

The spokesperson for Woods said people with accessibility, disability or mobility needs would not be given special priority through the current ballot system.

It was the responsibility of the people buying KiwiBuild homes to engage with the developer and make alterations to the plans to improve the accessibility features, the spokesperson said.

McArdle said the Government should use its power to make the KiwiBuild programme more inclusive of disabled people.