Wellington's population is on the rise, but there aren't enough homes to house people. The state of Wellington's housing deficit has come to light as the city council looks at ways to avoid an Auckland-style housing crisis.
The council's housing project is in the next phase of the city council's 20-year housing upgrade programme, which started in 2008.
The majority look to be social housing, with many to be built within three years, including the completion of 105 units at Arlington. They cost $33m.
Deputy Mayor Paul Eagle says that they are the biggest social housing landlord in this city, but we have land and land is scarce and what we want to do is better use the land so we can make sure that our whanau, those people that don't have a lot have something to hope for.
What I'm keen to do is get not only the iwi we have here but also other Māori organisations and people who I know who are saying we have some land its part of our kaupapa to do this and get them on board to say you can help us that council can help you with the situation.
The number of people in Wellington currently on the waiting list for social housing is 303. The Salvation Army says it is dealing with a noticeable rise in emergency housing requests, which has filled stock almost to capacity.
Paul says, "We need central government to be our partner here. I think the local government, especially in Wellington city, has done Māori proud in terms of saying look we realise there’s an issue here but we need central government to come on board with us."