Government funding to provide 34 homes

Funding for projects in Wellington, Queenstown, Christchurch and Auckland will deliver 34 much-needed homes for people on low incomes, says Housing Minister Phil Heatley.

The five successful applicants for Housing Innovation Funding (HIF) include Christchurch-based Habitat for Humanity, which will build three four-bedroom properties in Kaiapoi for affordable home ownership for low income families through its rent to buy scheme.

The project which will cost $735,000 will receive $354,000 in HIF funding.

Auckland will benefit from a $3.3 million dollar initiative by the Salvation Army to purchase 10 new two-bedroom units for older people.

The Salvation Army’s plans include purchasing the homes as integrated housing developments in partnership with New Zealand Housing Foundation. The partnership will provide $1.65 million which will be supplemented by HIF funding.

“It is great to see social housing providers working together in innovative ways to increase the supply of housing for people on low incomes,” says Mr Heatley.

“Time and time again third sector providers of social housing have demonstrated how they can successfully deliver niche, affordable and community housing.  This repeated success is in fact one of the key drivers behind the Government’s recent decision to set aside $40 million to give further support to this sector. 

“Currently the third sector delivers up to three dollars worth of housing for every Government dollar invested. The recently announced Social Housing Unit (SHU) is expected to work closely with third sector providers of social housing to further develop their capacity to build even more housing for every Government dollar invested,” said Mr Heatley.

The other three projects to benefit from this funding are:

• New Zealand Housing Foundation: a $5.43 million dollar project to build 13 new four-bedroom homes in Auckland for affordable home ownership. NZHF has identified five sites and will work with other community housing providers to develop mixed communities. The initiative includes a $1.5 million HIF grant.
• Wellington Housing Trust: a $1,632,500 project to build four new houses in Vogeltown for affordable rentals and affordable home ownership. Includes $842,500 in private funding and $790,000 from HIF
• Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust: a $1.75 million dollar project to construct four three-bedroom houses in Queenstown and Wanaka to be made available through the Trust’s new home ownership product, Rent Saver. Includes $1.05 million in private funding, and $700,000 from HIF.

Six other projects received HIF funding earlier this year, bringing the total number of successful applicants to 11.  This brings the total amount of HIF allocated this year to $9.21 million. In addition, a further $1.8 million has been allocated so far this year to two Maori organisations for Maori Demonstration Partnerships.

Successful applications to the Housing Innovation general fund in 2010/2011 (as at 31 May 2011)

Successful applications for Māori Demonstration Partnerships funding in 2010/2011 (as at 31 May 2011)