Affordable housing is a key challenge facing many developed cities, worldwide. Parts of New Zealand, particularly Auckland, are amongst the least affordable cities in the world. At present, for example, the median house price in Auckland is around 9.5 times the average household income; when this ratio exceeds 5:1, a market is said to be ‘severely unaffordable’. But it’s not only Auckland that has affordability issues; house prices in Tauranga, Queenstown and many other locations in New Zealand materially exceed the severely unaffordable threshold. Indeed, housing markets in most major cities globally are experiencing an expanding affordability gap. Economic fundamentals suggest that markets would, all else equal, provide a supply response that would address the issue. There are many complex reasons why this is not occurring, including in New Zealand; this paper largely focuses on the responses to alleviate the issue. Access to quality, affordable housing is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of people. It is important too for functioning economies. New Zealand’s housing challenges include providing social housing for residents unable to house themselves and Housing New Zealand is seeking to address this issue with a ramp up in the delivery of social homes. Providing housing at a reasonable (affordable) ownership cost for lowand middle-income populations is the focus of this paper; it’s about providing sustainable housing options for the burgeoning low to middle income cohort where wage growth has fallen well short of the growth in the cost of housing.