Sustainable and affordable community housing a natural fit for forestry company
It’s no secret that buying a home has become an unattainable reality for many New Zealanders, and in Nelson Tasman housing affordability has declined to the third worst in the country, with many people in the region spending more than half of their income on their mortgage. Jo Reilly, Head of Property and Projects for Habitat for Humanity Nelson sees the housing crisis in the region first hand, saying that with the increased cost of living, tough lending criteria, and increasing housing prices, it’s almost impossible for even middle-income families to afford their own home.
Habitat’s Progressive Home Ownership (PHO) programme is a rent-to-buy model which enables families who are not mortgage-ready to eventually buy their own home. Initially they rent from Habitat for five years and start to build their mortgage deposit. After the five-year rental period families may choose to enter a deferred sales and purchase agreement before final settlement with Habitat. In Nelson, many families are able to purchase the home from Habitat after the initial rental period, as they have saved enough to secure a mortgage on their own.
For the Habitat team it’s been all hands-on deck with housing developments on the go in Victory, Stoke, Richmond, Wakefield and Blenheim. Funding from forestry company OneFortyOne has been a huge help in ramping up these developments, with the company coming on board as a sponsor in November 2022. OneFortyOne is a long-term investor in the
Top of the South, with 80,000 hectares of forestry and its Kaituna Sawmill in Marlborough. Tracy
Goss, General Manager for OneFortyOne’s Kaituna Sawmill says supporting sustainable and affordable community housing is a natural fit for OneFortyOne.
Tracy is excited about the collaboration saying that local community housing is one of the biggest needs that has to be addressed. “What we love about the collaboration is that the timber used in the housing developments is grown locally, it is processed locally, produced in our local sawmill and then turned into a local sustainable home. For us as a forestry firm we feel that people forget that the product we produce helps to provide warm, dry healthy homes for those in need.”
A group of OneFortyOne employees helped out at the Wakefield site to work on some of the hardscaping projects. “It is an honour to be a part of,” says Tracy. They are also putting their chainsaw and creative problem solving skills to good use, as they’re tasked with the construction of a children’s play area in the Stoke development, and our team feel very lucky having the opportunity to help out and to design and build the playground, they are really excited about this collaboration and feel a great connection to the projects and part of a large family working together for a better future.”
The barriers to homeownership are high, but with strong collaboration between community, government and businesses, key players like Habitat for Humanity Nelson are able to assist more people in need and provide them with a helping hand toward a better future.
Habitat’s collaboration with OneFortyOne makes a huge difference to their ability to build quality homes at a price that is affordable for families, says Jo. “Every dollar we save through this partnership is passed on to people in our community who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford a decent place to live. As a housing charity, we believe it is a very relevant partnership with OneFortyOne as they’re supporting us and we’re supporting them by building with a lot of timber – fencing, pergolas, building materials. The partnership between Habitat and OneFortyOne enables both organisations to directly benefit the local community by providing good quality, affordable housing.”