On the edge of a breakthrough for Christchurch housing

Tuesday, 5 May 2026

Christchurch City Council staff have kicked off a programme to use land in pockets on the edge of the residential red zone for housing.

Mike Yardley is a Christchurch-based writer and commentator on current affairs, and a regular opinion contributor.

OPINION: It’s an uncomfortable truth. Christchurch is running short of available housing land.

But today’s inaugural public meeting of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor (OARC) Regeneration Committee should finally see some traction on an admittedly sensitive issue.

I’m expecting the committee will agree to a “request for information” (RFI) process, to test market interest from third parties in developing edge housing in the former residential red zone.

The OARC Development Plan has identified 11 separate land parcels suitable for potential residential development. These sites grace the edges of the OARC and directly adjoin existing residential neighbourhoods.

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Some community advocates, including the Avon-Ōtākaro Network, are steadfastly opposed to any housing development on former red zone land.

Yes, it will provoke a range of emotions, it will be contentious, but I’m all for it - particularly if it is geared at enabling lower-income, first-home buyers to secure affordable home ownership.

The Canterbury Land Development Report, compiled by the well-regarded construction consultant Mike Blackburn, is warning that based on current settings, the city only has approximately six years of greenfield residential land supply left. In other words, we are running out of land that can be developed.

Rather than compounding the galloping sprawl across Selwyn and Waimakariri, surely it is in Christchurch’s interests to unlock more land within the city limits to house our people.

That’s why I remain a passionate supporter of rezoning the Apollo Projects Stadium site, to enable hundreds of new dwellings to take its place. And it’s why I fully back repopulating a chunk of OARC land with new housing developments.

But let’s keep this edge housing proposal in perspective. It encompasses just 10 to 12 hectares of land – a drop in the bucket of the entire 602ha contained within the OARC regeneration area, which amounts to three and a half times the size of Hagley Park.

Overwhelmingly, OARC will remain vested in the public realm as a vast recreational space, alongside ecological restoration schemes, tidal wetlands and stormwater basins.

The 11 pockets of proposed developments front the green space, incorporated into existing residential communities.

Proposals to use red zone land for housing will provoke a range of emotions, Mike Yardley says, “but I’m all for it”.

It was the arbitrary straight lines of red ink, spilling from the ballpoint pens of bureaucracy 15 years ago, that arguably condemned these specific sites to red zone status.

Blackburn has run his ruler for me over the potential volume of new dwellings this proposal is likely to generate. He concludes it could deliver a meaningful contribution to housing supply, “in the order of 300 to 400 dwellings”.

Mayor Phil Mauger has signalled that he doesn’t envisage the council actually selling the land to developers – instead it could be made available to housing providers on a long-term lease basis. Mauger’s thinking is that by eliminating the land value component of house prices, this edge housing initiative would make it considerably easier for low-income earners to realise the dream of home ownership.

It’s a noble endeavour, likely to pique plenty of interest from community housing providers, iwi entities, and private developers.

The RFI process is non-binding. Any future decision-making on land tenure options and housing procurement on OARC land would only be made by the full council.

Blackburn points out that the touted delivery model and potential leasehold structure would act as a natural constraint on speculative gains, compared to freehold housing. He also believes that recent government changes have simplified and refocused community housing funding, so that providers can develop sites like this proposal.

The Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust (OCHT) and the Home Foundation are obvious contenders, with a solid track record in local delivery of progressive home ownership programmes.

OCHT’s current development in Lyttelton St is underpinned by a 100-year-long leasehold structure, offering “secure tenure and the rights of home ownership”.

Blackburn is bullish about the bigger picture. “This is the tip of the iceberg. If this initial tranche (of edge housing sites) proves successful, it’s highly likely that further Red Zone land will be considered for housing over time.”

If we really want to take the sting out of land values in Christchurch, to enhance housing affordability and grow the rating base, freeing up the supply of land able to be developed within the city limits is a contentious but critical assignment.