After years of uncertainty, Patricia Parry is looking forward to her future after moving into a new social housing development in central Nelson this week.
Patricia has been living with her daughter for more than two years and says she cried when she was accepted for a one-bedroom home in the newly completed complex on Nile St.
Home in Place’s 38-unit development was officially opened by Housing Minister Chris Bishop last Thursday.
Built by Scott Construction, owned by Soho Group, and leased and managed by Home in Place, the complex includes 14 one-bedroom and 24 two-bedroom units.
At 83, Patricia doesn’t drive anymore, so the complex on the fringe of Nelson city is the perfect location she says. It is just a short walk to her doctor, pharmacy and podiatrist.
Home in Place chief executive Larissa Bridge says 20 of the 38 units had tenants allocated last week, with the remaining homes expected to be occupied by Christmas.
Communal areas have been designed to encourage connection between residents, and an on-site manager will provide day-to-day support.
Opening the development, Chris called it a major step forward in easing Nelson’s housing crisis.
“There will always be people in this country, including here in Nelson and Tasman, who need extra support, who need help. They need a warm, dry roof over their heads and that is probably the single most important thing that government and communities can do, because it all starts with housing.”
He says the Government has worked hard to ensure housing providers such as Home in Place, Salvation Army and Nelson Tasman Housing Trust can access the same support as Kāinga Ora.
“I don’t really care whether it’s the Government via Kāinga Ora, Home in Place, or the Nelson Tasman Housing Trust… I don’t really care who owns the house, I just want the house.”
Around 20,000 remain on the national social housing register, including 280 in Nelson.
Demand for smaller homes in Nelson is among the highest in the country, with 87 per cent of applicants requiring one or two-bedroom homes.
“But guess what? We have not been building those sorts of units around the country, including here in Nelson,” Chris says.
Just 12 per cent of Kāinga Ora stock are one and two bedrooms.
“They own these big houses all over the place, which was fine in the 1960s and 70s. It made quite a lot of sense, but we just haven’t been adjusting and pivoting enough over the last few years.”
He says government has been “drilling down” into the housing register or wait list, to ensure that the right homes are being built in the right places.
“I’ve got a simple mantra - right house, right place, right people. It’s a pretty simple formula. That’s what’s going to guide our investment as we go forward, trying to build the right houses, by which I mean smaller units, in the in the right sort of place.”
The Nile St project has been five years in the making and Nelson Mayor Nick Smith says completion comes at a critical time for the city.
“By accident of history, Nelson has half the number of state houses compared to the national average,” he said last Thursday.
“With this development, and others coming, we’re seeing the biggest programme of new social housing our city has ever had.”
The Nile St development has been built with low energy appliances and solar to ease cost of living pressures.
