Trust reveals elderly housing plan
Development would be next to existing facility
Kaita¯ia’s Claud Switzer Memorial Trust is looking at building 28 one-bedroom units for elderly people on land next to its Switzer rest home on South Rd.
With high population growth and a growing housing register, the new housing project offers an innovative solution to the region’s housing crisis. Tina Mills
AKaita¯ia rest home trust is looking at building 28 onebedroom units for elderly people on land next to its Switzer rest home. Claud Switzer Memorial Trust (CSMT) is proposing a Western Village development on land next to its Switzer Residential Care’s State Highway 1 site just south of the township.
The development will provide one-bedroom units in Kaita¯ia that can house one or two people, or new homes for up to 56 community members.
The units have been designed to be accessible — eight fully accessible and eight partially accessible. The rest are tailored to meet the needs of the cohort, and will support independent living while encouraging health, wellbeing, and community among tenants.
The trust is also looking at developing an eight-unit retirement living village across the road.
“The world has changed beyond recognition over the last 70 years, and the CSMT has evolved with those changing times and the needs of its community,” chief executive Tina Mills said.
“Now, the trust is about to enter a new era, with plans to build a housing complex on trust-owned land adjacent to the existing home for those aged 50 and over.”
The development is in conjunction with Far North Holdings Ltd and is subject to resource consent and Ministry of Housing and Urban Development approvals.
“With high population growth and a growing housing register, the new housing project offers an innovative solution to the region’s housing crisis,” Mills said.
The trust has become a registered Community Housing Provider (CHP) to carry out the project, which fits in with a Far North District Council housing initiative.
The council is developing a housing strategy to remove barriers to building new homes as 15.5 per cent of residents in the district live in overcrowded conditions.
Far North District Deputy Mayor Kelly Stratford, who heads the newly created housing portfolio with councillor Babe Kapa, said the council would not be building houses. She said housing in parts of the district was dire.
The Far North population is projected to peak at 83,200 in 2049, but already 15.5 per cent of residents were living in overcrowded conditions. When it came to Ma¯ori — who make up almost half of the population — overcrowding was at 27.6 per cent.
In March last year there were 480 applicants on the Public Housing Register, compared with 90 in March 2018.
Stratford said there were people living in cars, often with children, in tents, in garages, or several generations of a family living in one small home.
The Far North District has a housing affordability index of 6.6, which is defined as severely unaffordable. The council plans to work with iwi, hapu¯, developers and public housing agency Ka¯inga Ora to make building easier. The strategy may take up to 18 months to implement, but it is hoped any Government changes to rules around building homes will speed this up.
Mills said the development was by no means a 100 per cent solution to the housing shortage the town faced but was a start.
Far North Holdings Ltd CEO Andy Nock was proud of what the Switzer housing partnership had achieved and hoped to partner with others in Te Tai To¯kerau to achieve CHP status.
The community housing project will include functional landscape design consisting of extensive fruit trees and vegetable gardens, a covered gathering area, and recycling and parking facilities.
The plan is also to extend the 315 solar panels that provide electricity for Switzer to power the new units when funds allow; the trust and FNHL will look to include charging stations for mobility scooters.