Heather du Plessis-Allan: We're finally giving in to the shoebox apartments

It looks like we are finally giving in and allowing shoebox apartments in New Zealand.

This morning, Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced a whole raft of changes designed to make houses more affordable, and one of those changes is that he will remove any requirements for how big an apartment must be and how big the balcony must be.

He reckons that back in 2015 when Auckland Council changed balcony size restrictions, it pushed the price of apartments up by $40,000- $70,000 each.

Good call from him, it's about time we got on board with this.

The very first property I put under my name was a tiny, tiny apartment. The bedrooms were so small, you could fit in a double bed with just enough space to walk around it with your shoulders touching the walls.

I didn't have space for a dining table, so I took a bed out of a bedroom and put a dining table in and you could just get the chairs out from under the table without hitting the walls - it was that tiny.

But it was what I wanted, which was a place I could afford to buy in the middle of the city. And by the end of living there, to be honest, I was embarrassed by how tiny it was and I sold it and moved on to another place.

But at the time, it was perfect. And frankly, I probably couldn't afford much more - but it got me onto the property ladder.

Shoebox apartments are not ideal, but then renting because you can’t afford to buy is less ideal.

And yes, there will be developers who take the mickey with how small they can go, and these kinds of apartments are often an eyesore to everyone else who has to look at them. 

But frankly, our priority has got to be something else. It's got to be letting people into their own homes, however small.

We have to accept we have a housing crisis, we've got to accept it’s not good for younger generations to feel like they’re locked out of home ownership.

And if they want to live in a small space because it’s all they can afford, why prevent them?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, good afternoon. Welcome to the program. So today we're
going to talk to developer David Whitburn about Chris Bishop's
plan to flood cities with housing. Henry Ulster Olson, who's
an American Polster, is going to give us the latest
on Biden and I'll tell you what. There's quite a
lot to get you across in the last twenty four hours.
And Consumer New Zealand wants a full ban on sun
beds good heather due to see Ellen. So it looks

(00:20):
like we are going to finally give in and allow
shoebox apartments in New Zealand. This is part of Chris
Bishop's plan to flood the country with houses. This morning
he announced a whole raft of changes that are designed
to make houses more affordable. And one of those changes
is that he's going to remove any requirements for how
big an apartment must be and also how big the
balcony of that apartment must be. He reckons that back

(00:42):
in around about twenty fifteen or thereabouts, when Auckland Council
changed the balcony sized restrictions, it pushed the price of
apartments in the city up by forty to seventy thousand
dollars each. There's a lot of money. That is a
lot of money to pay just so you've got a
little bit extra space on the old balcony. So I think,
actually it's a good call from him. It's about time
that we got on board with this. The very, very

(01:02):
first property that I ever put to my name was
a tiny, tiny apartment. The bedrooms were so small in
the apartment. You could fit in just you could just
put in a double bed and there was just enough
space around the double bed for you to be able
to walk around, but your one shoulder would be touching
the wall. That's how cramped it was. I didn't have
space for a dining table, so I took a bed
out of a bedroom, put the dining table in there,

(01:25):
and you could just get just get the chairs out
from under the dining table without them heading the walls.
It was that tiny, but it was what I wanted,
which was a place that I could afford to buy
in the middle of the city. And by the end,
I have to be honest, by the end of living there,
I was embarrassed by how tiny it was, and mainly
because somebody had come around and they were drunk and

(01:45):
they said, you shouldn't be living in a place this small,
and it kind of pointed out to me how small
it wasn't After that, I just couldn't get over it.
So when I could afford to, I just sold it
and moved on to another place. But at the time
that I bought it, it was perfect, and frankly I
couldn't afford much more, and it got me onto the
property ladder. Now, shoebox apartments I give you are not ideal, okay,

(02:05):
But then renting because you cannot afford to buy, that's
even less ideal than living in a shoebox apartment. Yes,
there will be developers who will take the mickey with
how small they go. Yes, these kinds of apartments are
often an I saw to everyone else who has to
look at the bloody thing. But frankly, our priority has
got to be something else now right. It has got
to be getting people into their own homes, however small

(02:27):
those homes are. We have got to accept that we've
got a housing crisis. We have got to accept it's
not good for younger generations to feel like they're locked
out of home ownership and not be able to see
a future for them to be able to buy their
own homes and if they want to live in a
small space because it's all they can afford, why would
we prevent that? For more from Hither Duplicy Alan Drive,

(02:47):
listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.