Tauranga is "not coping" with its biggest issue - the housing crisis, the city's commission chairperson Anne Tolley says.

Checkpoint has spoken to locals living in boats and vans as the price of a rental continues to soar in the Bay of Plenty.

Abby Mackelry, 21, and her partner Jessie Laing have been living in a van with their dog Jester for the last six months, unable to find suitable or affordable accommodation in Tauranga.

"This is my cosy little home basically, just have some little shelves at the head of our bed and just all sorts of storage mainly just keep our BBQ stuff, some clothes, cutlery, just the basics in the van.

"We also have our curtains and our double tinted windows for plenty of privacy, it's very very cosy."

Cosy it may be, but it's far from ideal.

Abby Mackelry. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi.

The couple pay about $75 a week to park at a friend's place and use their power, wifi and shower. But they have been told they need to move on, so they are desperately searching for a place to call home.

"It's really daunting. I have put up quite a few Facebook posts, a lot of private rental pages and things like that, even Trade Me, I don't get replies a lot of the time."

Abby says because they are in their 20s and have a dog they are often overlooked. "Nobody wants to take a chance on us."

That's if they could even afford what is on offer. Abby is studying beauty therapy full-time on a student loan and her partner lives with epilepsy and is unable to work.

They are not alone in their struggle.

The average weekly rent in Tauranga five years ago was $474, it has now skyrocketed to $670 - an increase of 41 per cent.

People are feeling it in the pocket. One local resident, who did not want to be interviewed, tells RNZ it feels impossible to get a rental after searching for two years. They are living in a boat with their daughter.

Another local says they have found a rental but also looked for a few years before they found it.

"Yeah, I rent. Me and my kids, it's pretty pricey that's pretty normal though today aye, we're just pretty, pretty much just getting by, just making it."

Since February 2019 to February 2023, there have been a 180 per cent increase of people on the transitional housing register in Tauranga.

Tolley admits the city has growing pains.

"Housing for us is a huge issue and the reality is we're not coping with that."

Tolley says the council had tried.

Anne Tolley.

"But still we have the highest house prices to income in the country. We're only consenting half the number of houses that we need to be so we are continually falling behind.

"We're about 5500 houses short now, which means it keeps the price up."

The council has been talking to the government about faster processing and consenting for new houses and changes are on the way.

The number of rentals listed on Trade Me was about 280 for a city of 160,000 people.

That's a slight increase since December last year, but Trade Me sales director Gavin Lloyd says that is still not meeting demand, with about 4000 people moving to the city every year.

The council has been talking to the government about faster processing and consenting for new houses.

"So while some of these numbers look not too bad on a year on year basis, gee, they've been coming from a really, really low base and we just know that supply is just not satisfying particularly that net migration number that we're seeing at the moment, those record highs."

Demand for one and two bedroom homes is also on the rise, according to Trade Me.

Age Concern general manager Tanya Smith says pensioners could be behind that demand, but many are unable to afford or find the right place.

"We know there's a growing number of older people that are becoming homeless. They're ending up in a camping ground or they're moving in with their family members, there is not enough rental properties out there now."

In February, a local Facebook page was created called "Accommodation options for over 65's". It already has more than 250 members.

The idea is to provide a flatting option for seniors in Tauranga, those without access to the internet can fill out an application form at the community centre.

But Tanya says they should not have to resort to this. There simply needs to be more housing for the ageing population.

"The government's known that this is coming and it's just been at a standstill and so it's time to move and it was meant to move yesterday, not tomorrow."

-RNZ.