An aerial view of the development. Photo / Supplied
The Government has bought a block of land in Rotorua's Pukehangi suburb for $12.6 million and plans to build a subdivision of 60 houses for those without homes.
The 4.6ha subdivision is on Collie Drive and the first stage of 37 homes will be ready for families by the end of next year.
The houses will be a mix of two, three and four-bedroom homes with 14 meeting universal design standards.
A Kāinga Ora Homes and Communities brochure was delivered to residents yesterday and outlined details of the development. It said Kāinga Ora would match the homes to people and families on the Housing Register.
It is intended these would be their long-term homes and priority would be given to those in greatest need considering the location for work, whānau, education and other factors.
To get the houses built quickly, they will be built off-site and trucked in and connected to the services.
Porches, decks and timber fencing will be built on-site and the homes will be made out of weatherboard-style cladding with Coloursteel roofs. They will be a range of mixed earth-tone colours.
The brochure said the homes would be fully insulated, with double glazing, carpets and curtains and will be built to six Homestar and Healthy Homes standards.
Each home would have a deck and an easy to maintain and fenced private section with garden.
A shared green space is part of the development and the subdivision would be landscaped.
An area of land near the entrance is stormwater reserve and will remain as an open and maintained grass area. An internal loop road will allow access to the homes at the rear of the site and all homes would have allocated off-street parking.
The brochure said Kāinga Ora was exploring options for the second stage of 25 homes.
Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods said it was an exciting new development for Rotorua with the Government delivering more much-needed public housing.
"We have been working intensively with the Rotorua community as it's an area with particularly high housing need. New supply has not kept up with demand and since the first Covid-19 lockdown, a significant number of individuals and whānau have moved back to Rotorua as they reconnect with family."
She said Rotorua also had significant infrastructure challenges around flooding and stormwater, which had made developments more challenging.
"Securing the Collie Drive site means Kāinga Ora can get on with building 60 new warm, dry homes for public housing at pace."
She said with more than half being manufactured off-site, it meant they could be delivered by the end of next year.
In August Kāinga Ora announced it had bought a 2ha block on the corner of Malfroy Rd and Ranolf St for $6.45m, land which had been vacant for 30 years.
This property is being developed in the same way with homes built off-site in a factory, and then transported to the site and installed and connected to services.
Kāinga Ora Bay of Plenty regional director Darren Toy said once consents on that development were through, they expected to start work next month.
He described the latest announcement on Collie Drive as "great news for Rotorua whānau and tamariki needing a warm and dry place to call home".
"We're also making good progress with the 35 homes being built on redeveloped existing Kāinga Ora sites."
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said she was pleased to see the momentum continuing.
"This is a sizable development, in a good location and every bit helps with the housing challenges Rotorua is facing. We are at the very beginning of a long journey and we welcome the investment into our city."
She said it was known Rotorua had a significant lack of public housing and the city needed to see more homes of all types.
"Enabling the delivery of more homes for our community is a key priority for this council and we are working closely with the Government, Te Arawa and other local housing providers to make that happen.
"Kāinga Ora has set a target to increase public housing supply in Rotorua and I'm looking forward to seeing those numbers realised, which means seeing whānau find permanent homes."
Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook, whose organisation is trying to stop the Government granting resource consent without notification to make motels more permanent housing, said it was great to see the Government making a start.
"This is certainly a positive move. However, with the mayor recently saying there are 850 families in emergency housing motels in Rotorua. We need a much bigger bolder plan."
He said he hoped there was going to be an early announcement about "what and when something will happen" on the remaining sections waiting for resource consent.
Kāinga Ora has more than 130 new homes under construction or being planned, with the first of these ready mid-next year.
A community drop-in session to hear more about the Collie Drive development is being held on December 2 between 5pm and 6.30pm at Aorangi School Hall on Gem St.
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