Briefs

This AHURI Brief summarises the activities already undertaken by local governments in responding to the challenges created by COVID-19. It draws on the findings of the COVID-19 Policy Exchange: Local Approaches to Pandemic Recovery, held in late 2020.

This AHURI Brief, and the series that follow, draw on themes that emerged from an International Housing Policy Exchange convened by AHURI, in collaboration with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in late 2020.

A key focus of the AHURI an US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) International Housing Policy Exchange was the response to helping people who are homeless and on the streets (i.e. ‘rough sleepers’) find appropriate housing or shelter during the pandemic.

With housing costs in New Zealand rising rapidly (up 23% in just 12 months),  the New Zealand Government has introduced reforms intended to reduce incentives for housing investors while increasing the supply of new housing. What exactly are the reforms being introduced in New Zealand and are there any lessons for Australia?

Although issues with the design and quality of living spaces in high density, high rise residential apartment buildings existed pre-COVID, the pandemic response restrictions that forced people to stay and work at home have focussed community concern on the problems of poor design and operation in some of these buildings.