Mayor's Message
Housing has been one of the most fraught issues in Nelson for years, but I am hugely encouraged this year by the momentum of 209 new social and affordable homes completed or underway in our city.
Fundamental reasons for Nelson’s housing challenges are that we have relatively high rents, modest incomes and too few state houses. The average weekly rent in our city climbed from $388 in 2020 to $512 in 2025, a hike of 32%. A third of Nelson households are in rented homes. They tend to have lower incomes, and these increases have put enormous pressure on budgets. Rent increases are being tamed; the latest data shows annual rental increases slowing to 1.3%, less than the 3.1% inflation rate and the lowest in a decade.
The gamechanger is getting more social and affordable housing. We dedicated four new Habitat for Humanity homes in Tipahi Street last Friday and 10 new Nelson Tasman Housing Trust houses in Dodson Valley on Monday. Both developments were supported by Council’s Housing Reserve Fund - $200,000 for the Tipahi Street project and $1 million for the Dodson Valley development. These are 14 of the 115 homes Council is supporting through its $12 million Housing Reserve.
These new homes are complemented by three large Salvation Army projects being built in Milton, Rutherford and Toi Toi streets, totalling 81 units, Habitat for Humanity’s 18-unit development that has started on the corner of Rutherford and Examiner streets and five units on Nayland Road, to be blessed on Friday, by the Kaikaiāwaro Charitable Trust (Te Rūnanga O Ngāti Kuia). These projects, with support from Council and Government, provide a further 104 units. We also have 91 social housing units being built by Kāinga Ora.
Nelson’s new homes need to be accompanied by effective social services. I love the dedicated work of the Housing First and Male Room teams with our homeless.
There is no single silver bullet to Nelson’s housing challenges. We need more private sector, state and community houses. We also need compassionate social services programmes to work with those sleeping rough and in vulnerable accommodation. We also need to take a firm approach with anti-social behaviour, particularly in the central city. I am more confident than I have been in 20 years that we are heading in the right direction on housing.
