In support of Pōneke Public Housing Futures petition to retain and build more public housing to help address the housing crisis in New Zealand. Everyone has a right to a safe home. Increasingly people are living on the streets. Public housing is in all our interests. Interview video
Academic research on the need for public housing. Support for the Pōneke Public Housing Futures petition calling on the government to retain, maintain and build more public housing to address the housing crisis for all. Interview video
Distinguished Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman from the Faculty of Medicine – Wellington has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH).
It is the first such award given by the society in its 23-year history and was presented at the ISUH’s International Conference on Urban Health co-hosted by the University and held in Wellington from 17 to 21 November.
Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman was interviewed by the Post about a recently published study which found that the Government’s justification for dismantling Kāinga Ora’s public housing building programme was based on biased and methodologically flawed private sector research.
Read the full article here: https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360871952/government-axed-public-housing-programme-flawed-research-claims-study
Dr Ayodeji Fasoro a researcher from the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities was interviewed about a new report challenging the Government’s recent claims about housing need, presenting robust evidence that public housing tenants in Aotearoa face significantly greater vulnerabilities than those receiving the Accommodation Supplement.
Interview with Dale Husband: https://waateanews.com/2025/10/29/dr-ayodeji-fasoro-research-fellow-department-of-public-health-at-otago-university/
Researchers Ayodeji Fasoro, Brodie Fraser, Philippa Howden-Chapman and Nevil Pierse report their findings in a Public Health Communication Centre briefing that public housing serves those with the greatest need.
Read full the full briefing: https://www.phcc.org.nz/briefing/public-housing-serves-those-greatest-need-contrary-governments-review-claims
Read the media release: https://www.phcc.org.nz/news/media-release-public-housing-serves-those-greatest-need-contrary-governments-review-claims
The University of Otago has highlighted the 21st International Conference on Urban Health 2025, kicking off in Te Whanganui-a-Tara in just over four weeks. Read the full story here.
Māori Wellbeing: A Guide for Housing Providers (the Guide) was created as a learning and development tool primarily for housing providers. The idea for the Guide came out of discussions with community housing providers involved in the Public Housing and Urban Regeneration Research Programme after the publication of the paper: A Whakawhanaungatanga Māori Wellbeing Model for Housing and Urban Environments (Penny et al 2024). Find out more and how you can request a copy here
Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman comments in this op-ed in The Press on the Government's recent policy proposal to underwrite large housing developers to build more private homes. She suggests it is ill-conceived and an attempt to correct a collapse in the construction industry brought on in part by the Coalition Government's own earlier policies.
Researchers from the Wellbeing strand of the Public Housing and Urban Regeneration research programme have published an article finding that tenants in public housing have higher wellbeing than tenants in private rentals and similar wellbeing to owner-occupiers. The researchers attribute this increased wellbeing to security of tenure. Other factors that affect wellbeing are the condition of the home (cold and damp), perceptions of neighbourhood suitability and public transport quality and availability. Read the full article.
A recently published study shows housing people who've experienced homelessness and simultaneously providing them with specialist support services dramatically improves their wellbeing.
A Whakawhanaungatanga Māori Wellbeing Model has been developed by researchers from the Māori Strand of the Public Housing and Urban Regeneration Research programme. This model is intended as a resource to guide policy makers and others to create and manage public housing that can enhance Māori wellbeing by putting relationships, with both places and people, at the heart of housing for Māori.
New research just released by Motu Research and NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities finds that public housing tenants have higher levels of wellbeing than do private sector tenants.
At this year's University of Otago Research Awards the premier award, the Distinguished Research Medal, was awarded to Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman.
Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman comments on key announcements in the recent 2023 Budget which have implications for housing and public health. These include new public housing, extending the Warmer Kiwi Homes’ Programme, and investment in infrastructure. The Professor outlines where and how these initiatives will help housing in Aotearoa New Zealand
Philippa Howden-Chapman and Ralph Chapman were interviewed for this Spinoff article on adaptation to climate change and featuring a local level response at an iwi farm near Wellington.
Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman, Professor Nevil Pierse and Dr Brodie Fraser highlight in this briefing that improving New Zealand's housing is a critical policy issue to better enable all people to access warm, dry, safe, affordable housing.
Recently-published research has found public housing tenants living in areas with a higher proportion of public housing actually had better health outcomes than those living in areas with lower densities of public housing tenants.
Wellington City Council has put out a Media Release on their research collaboration with the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities on the Public Housing & Urban Regeneration Programme funded by MBIE.
New Zealand urgently needs to increase the diversity and quality of its housing stock if it is to meet its goal of reducing the country’s carbon emissions by 2030 and meet the needs of our diverse population, researchers at the University of Otago say.
Dr Crystal Olin was interviewed recently by Liam Hansen of Radio 95bFM about efforts to green our cities. This was in the wake of the release of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warning that without immediate action the earth could reach a 1.5 degree Celsius rise in temperature by 2030.
Please listen to the Radio 95bFM interview with Dr Crystal Olin
A BBC film presented by He Kāinga Oranga - Housing and Health Research Programme: Unlocking the science—How can science connect the dots between disciplines and communities? Please watch the film The Science of a Healthier Home
Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman analyses the challenges of housing in 2022, how Kāinga Ora is leading the way with major developments and the need for government investment.
Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman was interviewed by Stuff reporter Ethan Te Ora about her long research career working to improve the quality of Kiwi homes
A report published today puts a spotlight on housing through a fairness lens and finds that differences in housing are a large contributor to inequity in New Zealand.
A University of Otago research proposal has been awarded an Endeavour Fund 2020 grant of $12,393,935 (excluding GST) by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
We held two Public Health Summer School 2021 symposiums at the University of Otago Wellington in February. Building for zero carbon by 2050 and Eviction and its consequences.
On behalf of the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities, Associate Professor Ralph Chapman and Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman have made a submission to the newly established Climate Change Commission.
Lynn Freeman talks to Clare Aspinall at the University of Otago in Wellington who is currently researching the benefits and challenges of using the Housing First approach in a New Zealand context o
In a recently published article arising out of the Resilient Urban Futures programme the authors seek to develop a framework to facilitate the integration of physical and social science u
Ed Randal, Ralph Chapman, Caroline Shaw, Michael Keall, and Philippa Howden-Chapman, made a submission on behalf of the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities on 11 May on the draft Go
These members of the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities, Ralph Chapman, Paul Blaschke, Ed Randal, Michael Keall, and Philippa Howden-Chapman, recently made a submission to Wellington City C
Associate Professor Ralph Chapman was lead author of a Victoria University of Wellington-led study which suggests that despite strong goals adopted by Wellington and Auckland, the cities still