Opinion: Housing plan must become a reality

Rotorua Salvation Army corps officer Ralph Overbye, Associate Social Housing Minister Alfred Ngaro, Rotorua MP Todd McClay, and Rotorua Salvation Army corps officer Kylie Overbye. Photo/Ben Fraser

The Government has announced plans for 117 more social and transitional houses in Rotorua over the next three years, as we report on page 3 today.

That's fantastic news, which many will say is long overdue.

There is a desperate need for more social housing in this city, as we have reported time and time again over the last couple of years.

With winter fast approaching, people in our city are sleeping in cars and on the streets while the 'lucky ones' are jammed into overcrowded houses.

In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Social Development said it was "actively encouraging private social housing providers to help the Government deliver the new properties within three years".

It said the homes will be a mixture of new builds and newly acquired rental properties.

Rotorua MP Todd McClay said he would work with Rotorua Lakes Council on section availability and consent times to get the new build homes finished as quickly as possible.

By making this "statement of intention" the Government says its showing it's taking the Rotorua housing crisis seriously.

But am I alone in wondering where these 117 homes (37 by the end of this year alone) are going to come from?

For a city our size, with a shortage of sections and a booming property market, that's an awful lot of houses to come up with.

So the real work will start now, in turning the some may say ambitious plan into reality.

By the end of this year 37 more families could have a proper home. Another 80 over the coming few years.

This plan would change lives. So, whether or not it seems ambitious, it simply must become reality, whatever it takes.