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No place like home

Skill shortages, limited infrastructure, and rampant material costs are stopping houses being built and an incoming law change won't fix that, according to Auckland councillor Chris Darby.

Ria Akuhata lives in a van to pay off her mortgage faster It was after midnight in the Auckland suburb of Avondale, and Ria Akuhata​ was asleep in her van. There was something in the air that night. Outside protesters slept in the branches of native trees, rare kawaka and black maire, destined to be felled to make way for a new housing development. It was a thump against the van’s roof that awoke Akuhata. “Someone’s ripped off our signage!” one of the protesters yelled. Even small movements inside a minivan can be difficult, the 48-year-old says. The space between limbs and vehic...