ORA exists because the way housing is currently delivered in Aotearoa New Zealand is no longer working for many people or communities.
Across the country (and much of the world), homes have increasingly become financial assets first and places to live second. Land is treated as a vehicle for speculation, housing outcomes are shaped by short-term returns, and affordability is addressed as a temporary intervention rather than something that can be secured over time. The result is a system that pushes everyday households out, weakens connection to place, and leaves communities struggling to hold together.
What we are facing is not simply a shortage of homes. It is a system structurally misaligned with long-term human and planetary wellbeing. The way housing is designed and delivered plays a critical role in this misalignment.
Much of today’s housing is delivered as isolated units — optimised for yield, speed, and risk reduction rather than long-term human and planetary outcomes. Car-dependent layouts, weak shared spaces, and transient tenure contribute to disconnection, loneliness, and fragile communities, even where homes are technically new or well built.
These outcomes are not accidental. They are the predictable result of how land, capital, and development are currently organised and of who those settings are designed to serve.
ORA was established because this system cannot, under its existing rules, deliver the homes and places this country needs.
We exist to prove that there is another pathway — one that prioritises long-term outcomes over short-term gain, treats land as a foundation for wellbeing rather than extraction, and restores housing as a platform for stable, connected communities.
Want to explore the thinking in more depth?
The ideas behind ORA are set out in more detail in our Why ORA Exists paper. It explores:
- The structural drivers behind New Zealand’s housing crisis
- Why the treatment of land sits at the root of affordability and inequality
- How capital rules shape what gets built — and who is excluded
- The lived impacts of unaffordable, disconnected housing
- Why a new pathway is needed between the state and the market
You don’t need to read the full document to understand ORA. But if you’d like deeper context on the intent behind the model, it’s there for anyone who wants to explore further.
→ Download: Why ORA Exists (PDF)
How this fits with the rest of ORA
The ideas outlined in Why ORA Exists underpin everything ORA does — from Secure Homes, to Regenerative Villages, to how projects are delivered and stewarded over time.
Different expressions. One intent.
Housing that serves people, place, and long-term wellbeing.