$40k fund to warm up kaum¯atua flats

The coronavirus crisis was a keen reminder about how important it is to look after society’s most vulnerable people, says an elected member of a Taranaki funding body.

Te Atiawa Kauma¯ tua Housing Trust recently received a $40,000 grant from Taranaki Electricity Trust (TET) to pay for heat pumps as well as new joinery and double-glazing for eight units it manages as part of its Leslie St, Waitara complex.

Kauma¯ tua, all aged 65 or older and in need of accommodation, call the flats home.

TET trustee Karen Schumacher said the Covid-19 pandemic had highlighted how vulnerable older people were, along with the need for them to live in warm, dry and healthy homes.

‘‘Heat pumps will really make a difference this winter,’’ she said. Work to install the heat pumps was expected to begin next week.

Schumacher said she had encouraged the trust to apply for the money to improve the flats’ heating systems.

‘‘It’s about the quality of life of people and this is a really good example of it.’’

The upgrade of the eight units has been in the pipeline for about two years and comes off the back of the construction of four new whare next door last year.

The new, one-bedroom flats were built in partnership with Signature Homes and assisted by a $750,000 grant from Te Puni Kokiri (TPK).

Te Atiawa Kauma¯ tua Housing trustee Tiri Bailey said it was good to be able to invest some money into the older units, which were built in the early 1970s.

She said without the valued support of the likes of TET or TPK, the trust would have to rely on its own fundraising efforts.

TET deputy chairman Mike Davey said projects like that undertaken by Te Atiawa Kauma¯tua Housing Trust were important to the community.

‘‘This is where we should be helping,’’ Davey said.

Trust chairwoman Alice Doorbar said there continued to be a waiting list for people wanting a unit, and there had also been a spike in enquiries during the lockdown period.

The next project the trust planned to get stuck into was to build a two-bedroom home at the rear of the existing units.

ANDY JACKSON/STUFF Te Atiawa Kaumatua Housing Trust has received a grant from TET for new curtains, double glazing, heat pumps etc for its kauma¯tua flats in Waitara. From left Mike Davey, Karen Schumacher, Wiki Michalanney, Alice Doorbar and Tiri Bailey.