Housing Minister, Chris Bishop, has met with representatives from the Hawke’s Bay Matariki Housing Leadership Group who are taking the lead for the community-led delivery of 150 new social homes in the region.
As part of last year’s Budget, the Government invested $140 million into 1,500 new social homes to be delivered by Community Housing Providers (CHPs) between June 2025 and June 2027.
“Hawke’s Bay has been chosen as a priority location for a pilot community-led approach to social housing delivery due to the high level of need, with disproportionate numbers of people in emergency and temporary housing and on the social housing waitlist,” said Mr Bishop.
“The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has worked with CHPs, iwi, local government and other community groups to agree a community-led approach to delivering up to 150 social homes across the region.”
The Minister said the Hawke’s Bay presents both a significant need for social housing, and a unique opportunity for government and local groups to work differently together to deliver social homes.
“In Flaxmere I endorsed the group’s efforts to bring together many different parts of the community, alongside HUD, to deliver 150 social homes in the region. The Government is looking forward to working collaboratively with them to get these homes built,” said Mr Bishop.
“To make contracting more efficient, the Government is delivering many of the 1,500 social homes across the country through Strategic Partnership agreements with carefully selected CHPs. In Hawke’s Bay, strategic partner Emerge Aotearoa Housing Trust has already committed to delivering 24 homes.
“Our Government is committed to delivering social homes in the communities that need them most, alongside the organisations who know the communities best, using community housing providers who have a track record of delivery.
“In addition to the community partnership in Hawke’s Bay announced today, I am also confirming the other priority locations for social housing delivery for the five strategic partners announced by the Government in April.”
These locations are Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Porirua, Nelson/Tasman, and Rotorua. They have been identified based on social housing need and emergency housing use in each area, along with housing market performance and CHP capacity and capability to deliver, said Mr Bishop.
“I look forward to seeing construction of these social homes underway.”
The five strategic partners for social housing delivery were selected based on their current performance, capability, and capacity, as demonstrated by the social homes they already manage and the quality of the housing developments they have delivered to date.
The strategic partners are:
- Accessible Properties New Zealand Limited
- Community of Refuge Trust (CORT)
- Emerge Aotearoa Housing Trust
- Te Āhuru Mōwai Limited Partnership
- The Salvation Army.
