Housing Trust’s “social housing” nears completion
Four "affordable" homes being built around Arapeta Place on Rototai Road for the Golden Bay Housing Trust are now being clad, with all expected completion dates staggered between 24 April and 15 May.
Exact rentals have yet to be set after all the bills are paid, but are expected to be around the $220-230 mark, or 80 per cent of the median rental for this area, based on registered tenancy/bond agreements. The question on everyone's lips now seems to be about the criteria for choosing which families get a helping hand to live in these four snappy new three-bedroom homes.
The houses come complete with solar water-heating, heat pumps, double glazing and a generous backyard of alluvial soil to put in a garden.
"For sure, there's been a lot of speculating, and we've spent a lot of time talking about it," says trust member Mik Symmons, who believes the interest within the community is understandable considering public housing has never featured big here. The important distinction we want to stress is that the trust isn't in the business of providing state housing. This is going to be ‘social housing'. These homes won't be used for crisis intervention, emergency housing, or any stop-gap measure. We want them to be made available to secure families who want to live long term in Golden Bay. People will be able to rent them knowing they don't have to move out in the summer. They'll also be secure in that their homes won't be sold out from under them at any stage. It might be just the help up they need to get a place of their own here."
Says trust chairwoman Belinda Barnes: "Our brief will probably be close to that used in similar circumstances by the Nelson/Tasman Housing Trust. We'll look at where our prospective tenants are currently living as well as other aspects of their situation. Often the very people the community needs to be here, people who are looking for work and whose kids are going to school, are the ones who feel they're better off leaving and living somewhere more affordable."
The Rototai subdivision was seen as an ideal place to build the housing trust's homes because it is family-friendly, being within walking distance of the kindergarten, schools and town. The four houses being constructed are basically all the same Milestone Home plan, with variations of roof plan, aspect and mirror image to make each visually unique. The contract to build them went to Jennian Homes, who had been working with the trust for nearly two years trying to secure the funding. The $1.2m needed to purchase the sections and build the four three-bedroom homes finally came from the Canterbury Community Trust, which marked its 20th anniversary by donating the money specifically for putting up affordable housing in Golden Bay. In the longer term, the trust will use the proceeds from the rental houses as leverage for developing further rental properties.
Application forms will be available from the trust shortly, and the final selection of applicants will be done under a police-supervised ballot. Says Mik Symmons: "Basically it's a start of this sort of housing in Golden Bay, and the result will be we can encourage four families who can hopefully breathe a little easier."
Gerard Hindmarsh
