Hunt for land and builders

Work has begun to identify land and developers for about 400 new houses needed in Dunedin as plans ramp up for the city's new hospital and the population grows.

The Dunedin City Council is taking a lead role in the work, and says it will look at land it and other agencies own for possible building sites.

It plans to make sure there is a ''permanent legacy'' of good housing after the hospital build, some of which could be used for social or affordable housing.

But the council will rely on private developers for much of the work, and Enterprise Dunedin director John Christie said it would make sure there was a good consent process that worked ''as quickly and efficiently as possible''.

Local Advisory Group convener Pete Hodgson, who is leading the hospital build, said the council, which was not much engaged in the project a year ago, was now ''highly engaged''.

It had recognised a need for more two- or three-bedroom homes for older people, and the idea had emerged to build houses now, use them to house workers for the hospital build, then sell them later.

Social housing needed to be grown or strengthened, and the city might decide to buy housing at the end of the build for that purpose, which ''de-risks'' aspects of building them.

''If you've got a buyer at the end, you've got very low risk.''

Council chief executive Sue Bidrose said 800 people were expected from outside the city for the build, which is expected to be completed in 2026.

Last year it emerged Dunedin's population had grown by 1800 people.

If the new arrivals for the hospital filled hotel rooms and similar accommodation, that would affect short-term accommodation needed for the conference and stadium market.

''What we would like to see is a permanent legacy of housing stock,'' Dr Bidrose said.

She wanted ''something much better than plywood prefabs''.

Mr Christie said he had been asked to deal with the housing project.

The $1.4billion hospital build would be an economic generator in its own right, but there would also be the ''multiplier effect'' of generating additional housing, along with the jobs and materials involved in that work.

''There's a lot of moving parts in it.''

Mr Christie said the council was considering what levers it and the Government had to influence housing development.

He was beginning the process of getting council teams to look at what might be involved.

The council was starting to identify land and potential developments in the city.

There might be larger pockets of land, owned by the council or other entities, that could be used, or even rezoned for housing for worker accommodation, and later used for social or other housing.

Developers were already looking at privately held land, which was ''market forces at work''.

''We want people to be looking at all those opportunities.

''Obviously, the private sector is going to play a substantial role in terms of meeting a lot of that need.''

The council had also begun discussions with the Ministry of Social Development on the need for skilled workers in Dunedin.

david.loughrey@odt.co.nz