The future of social housing? Te Ō opens doors in Mt Cook
Where there used to be 54 run-down Housing NZ flats, there are now 80 spacious new apartments and a full on-site team to support residents.
The apartments still smell new, most are unfurnished, and those that do have furniture don’t have much – yet. That will all change in the new few weeks as residents start to move in to Te Ō on Mt Cook’s Rolleston St, taking up what City Missioner Murray Edridge hopes will be their “forever home”.
The apartments all have large balconies or gardens on the ground floor, and on the top floor you can see all the way to Mt Victoria and the harbour. Outside, saplings are starting to grow and the grass looks lush. The barbecues have already been popular with Mt Cook neighbours popping by to make food.
Edridge hopes visits from the supportive local community will continue. He has several hopes for the new development, which his staff will be running.
Although Kāinga Ora built and financed the development, the Wellington City Mission will run the buildings, with 14 new employees to provide around-the-clock support for residents on matters including healthcare, employment and budgeting.
Te Ō, along with Te Mātāwai in Auckland, is being treated as a test run for a new type of supportive social housing.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop cut the ribbon alongside Edridge and mayor Tory Whanau yesterday.
If the 15-month trial went well, this type of social housing (called “single-site supported housing”) could be rolled out around the country, Edridge said. “Typically, what we’ve done in New Zealand is we’ve put people into permanent social housing and we’ve let them get on with their lives.
“For some people, that will be a perfect outcome. For others, who have maybe addictions or mental health issues in their lives, they need additional support in order to succeed.”
Edridge believed the investment in support services would be worth it, with lower crime rates, fewer hospital admissions and residents in better health and well being.
Edridge wants Te Ō to provide forever homes for its residents, but there’s some conflict with a new policy set by the Government, which has reinstated evictions for bad behaviour from Kāinga Ora properties, including Te Ō.
The new housing site opened against a backdrop of significant turmoil in Kāinga Ora, as the agency awaits the report back from an independent review into its financial situation led by former prime minister Bill English.
Bishop, now responsible for social housing along with Finance Minister Nicola Willis, has criticised Kāinga Ora for being slow to fill hundreds of new homes. He was vocally critical of Kāinga Ora before National came into government, describing it as a “basket case”.
Those tensions were absent from the speeches at the opening of Te Ō. Edridge, Bishop, Whanau and Kāinga Ora board member Philippa Howden-Chapman were on the same page about the need for more social housing.
Housing developments like Te Ō, which were “sensible, good-looking, affordable density”, were part of the solution to the housing crisis, Bishop said.
“Our vulnerable citizens ... deserve to be in a warm and dry home.
“All New Zealanders should have access to that basic right. The challenge for us is how we give effect to that.”
Whanau said the development was exactly what Wellington needed to see more. She had just moved to Mt Cook and said the mix of social housing, million-dollar homes and student housing made it a diverse and special community.
Addressing Bishop, Whanau said it was “so refreshing to hear they way you talk about housing”.
“I’m going to be honest, I got a bit emotional ... and I’ve never felt that way about a National Party minister,” she said, to laughter from the room.
Howden-Chapman, who is a public health professor, said Te Ō was in a “wonderful location”, close to amenities including schools, Massey University and transport routes. “Let us hope there are many places like this one.”