Tararua gets its share of Govt’s 16,000 new homes
Tararua District is eagerly awaiting its share of new affordable housing planned for regions and cities across the nation.
Thirty new homes will be built in Pahīatua on the site of the former Hillcrest Primary School, which shut down in 2019 due to a declining roll.
The land is a Rangitāne o Tāmaki nui-ā-rua owned property development and will consist of a mixture of rental houses, affordable housing for sale and papakā inga housing.
Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis said that central government investment in social housing around the district was a long time coming.
‘‘We’ve communicated the need for social housing with the Government and we’re working with Kā inga Ora to make a presence in all our towns.
‘‘And we’re really grateful to the central government for unlocking those funds.
‘‘All the mayors from Wairarapa to Central Hawke’s Bay have collectively said there was a dire need for social housing. ‘‘There were so few, people weren’t putting themselves on the list because they knew they wouldn’t get anywhere. So we want to change that.’’
Collis praised the government funding of infrastructure related to the new builds; an issue rural councils like Tararua had struggled to tackle on their own.
‘‘Council wouldn’t have been able to afford the infrastructure for these homes and there’s some significant infrastructure required to get those in place.
‘‘We’ve already made a start with the development in Woodville, but of all our towns Pahīatua had the most resource consents and building consents so we’re interested to see what more we can do there.’’
The project is part of the third round of funding from the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF), which will invest $539.8 million on groundwork like pipes, roads and flood protection to enable thousands of homes to be built.
Development plans for the site in Pahīatua will be supported by $880,000 from the IAF.
Te Tahua o Rangitā ne general manager Shaun Lines said the development was another positive step towards building what was a critical asset for the community. ‘‘We’re seeing housing become a critical need for our whānau and this really is the foundation piece for us to deliver on warm, safe homes.
‘‘We’ve had a really positive relationship between iwi, council and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. And we’re really grateful to have received the means to develop this land to serve people across the community.’’
In her announcement yesterday, , Housing Minister Megan Woods said that to date $916.3m in IAF funding had been committed to infrastructure projects throughout the country.