Here at Planalytics, we are very interested in all matters housing. And we also love a good podcast. So, we've found a couple of audio resources we’ve really enjoyed lately that you might find will add to your understanding and thinking on the gnarly and highly topical issue of affordable housing.

What every Councillor should know about …

Thomas Simonson at Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is currently producing a fabulous podcast series on a range of local government issues. It’s called What every Councillor should know about…, and is currently available on Anchor and Spotify. We can highly recommend his chat about affordable housing with Scott Figenshow of Community Housing Aotearoa Nga Wharerau o Aotearoa (CHA). Tom and Scott explore a specific regulatory tool designed to stimulate affordable housing supply, inclusionary zoning - district plan rules that require affordable housing in new developments. CHA are all over this topic, having commissioned a report from Sense Partners in 2017 that looks at the use of inclusionary zoning in Queenstown. The affordable housing episode is, like the series as a whole, confidently produced and an easy listen. We particularly appreciated the fact that Tom’s line of questioning makes sure listeners know where to go next if they want more information or more resources to help explore implementing inclusionary zoning in their district.

You can find out more about LGNZ’s work on affordable and social housing here.

Two Cents’ Worth

Two Cents’ Worth is a weekly RNZ podcast that tries to make sense of business and the economy and how they affect our back pockets. The 1 November episode investigates New Zealand’s well-publicised housing crisis and affordable housing supply through the lens of the recent house price jump. The Two Cents' Worth team look at what they call ‘the Goldilocks sweet spot’ for our housing market and ask do we want prices to go up, fall down, or stay as they are? The usual Two Cent’s Worth presenters (Bernard Hickey, Gyles Beckford, and Jenée Tibshraeny) are joined for this episode by Jarrod Kerr, Kiwibank’s Chief Economist, and Leonie Freeman, Chief Executive at Property Council New Zealand. The debate is really lively with a great range of opinion, insight, facts, and figures. The jury is out here whether the use of sound effects throughout the episode is just a bit irritating, and sometimes the guest speakers got cut off just when I felt sure they were going to add another dollop of wisdom to the mix! But, all in all, we came away from our listen feeling informed and entertained. Two Cents’ Worth is available on a good number of podcast platforms.