Chief executive at city council dismisses report and insists he is confident in their data
.jpg)
Urban Economics has warned that Hamilton could be facing a triple crisis in the next 10 years – specifically around housing affordability, high council debt, and massive rate increases.
The report was commissioned by Colin Jones, property consultant at Hamilton, after being concerned with Hamilton City Council’s calculations on the city’s housing demand and affordability.
"My concern has been and always will be affordable housing. However it is concerning the way inequity is increasing especially when it doesn't have to be. My wife and I have taken the decision to try and change the system to achieve affordability so everyone who aspires to own their own home can achieve that dream," Jones said.
Jones and the Hamilton Residents and Ratepayers Association have called for an independent review into how the council calculated its projected growth and demand for housing – emphasising that its projections of 11,950 more households in the next decade did not account for rising house costs, which slowed growth.
In the last 10 years, house price to income multiple has increased from 6.8 to 9.3 – predicted to grow to 9.8 over the next decade.
Read more: Hamilton's housing is “severely unaffordable”
Richard Briggs, chief executive at the Hamilton City Council, dismissed the report – saying that it didn’t add anything useful to the city’s growth discussions.
He added that he had “absolute confidence” in their data, projections, and reporting as they are continually updated, refined, and reported publicly to the council.
"Just today the Council received a report on the city's resilience to growth changes. The report clearly shows Hamilton is in good shape to respond to increases or decreases in our projected growth patterns. It's built on facts and its assumptions are tested,” Briggs said.
"Given these claims, and others, underpin the report's conclusions it is difficult to see how the conclusions can have any value."
