130 | Boost to housing The houses will be rented out by the trust, and tenants will pay income-related rent to keep them affordable. Nelson Housing Trust: Totara Street Development T T Bernadette Cooney COMMUNITY Nelson’s ongoing affordable housing crisis has been further alleviated with the completion of six new affordable rental houses in Victory Square, a successful project from Nelson Tasman Housing Trust. A long-time proponent for improving the supply of homes for low-income working families, Nelson Tasman Housing Trust purchased the Totara Street site from the Nelson City Council several years ago. The Totara Street development combines two previous sections with a land valuation of $715,000. The total cost of the housing project was $4.3 million, inclusive of land costs. With financial support from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the housing trust secured the site and began planning the construction of six two-storey houses, including two 2-bedroom homes, three 3-bedroom homes, and one 4-bedroom home. The houses will be rented out by the trust, and tenants will pay income-related rent to keep them affordable, says Nelson-Tasman Housing Trust director and founding trustee, Carrie Mozena. “There is a lot of low-wage and seasonal worker households whose incomes fluctuate depending on what is happening in the orchards or fish processing,” says Carrie. “ Income-related rent ensures people can stay in their homes.” Totara Street is due to be completed and opened mid -September. “It’s a good way of intensifying a site,” says Carrie, “providing healthy warm homes that are well located. It’s right by Victory Primary School and within a kilometre of several other schools and within a kilometre and a half of grocery stores and it is right on a bus route.” The homes carry a Homestar 7 rating, which means it has met additional performance and sustainability requirements above those of the New Zealand building code. “It’s a high Homestar rating so it’s good to know it has all the things that keep it warm and dry including heat pumps and good kitchen and bathroom ventilation,” says Carrie, “we’ve even installed photovoltaic panels on the roof for each home.” The inclusion of solar panels is a sensible solution to reduce daytime costs of power for tenants and reduce the draw on the national grid. “We’ve found in previous developments we have done, that the solar panels basically cut in half the cost of power for residents coming out of an old uninsulated house. It is an extra cost to the developer, but we believe it’s worth it.” Tenants are selected from the public housing register and chosen and vetted by the trust. “The prospect of having a newly built home that is warm and healthy is an absolute game changer for families,” says Carrie. “It means kids can stay and complete school, and parents can go on to further education and work knowing they have a secure tenancy to do that in.” The 400 listed on the public housing register in Nelson/Tasman is just the tip of the housing insecurity iceberg, says Carrie. “Our annual survey adds another 686 more households in this region that need affordable housing but are not on the housing register.” The Totara Street development adds to the trust’s overall portfolio of homes for low-income families, bringing the total to 60 homes across Nelson and Richmond. Nelson Tasman Housing Trust aims to increase their overall housing stock to 120 homes by the end of 2028. Toward this goal, the trust has further developments in the planning, working on four separate projects at the same time, says Carrie. “We have two other sites in Nelson that have achieved resource consent, which will deliver another 18 homes to be completed later in 2025.” The NTHT is also working toward adding another 12 homes within Richmond in the future, adding to its current nine affordable homes there. • LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED • OBLIGATION-FREE MEASURE & QUOTE • WALL CLADDING • NEW ROOFS & RE-ROOFS • FASCIA / SPOUTING / DOWNPIPES 4A Barros Place, Richmond, Tasman P: 03 544 0458 M: 022 363 3165 E: nick@roofingtasman.co.nz PROUDLY SUPPORTING NELSON TASMAN HOUSING TRUST www.roofingtasman.co.nz TM Leading the way in custom joinery for over 25 years. Committed to delivering high quality products & outstanding service. TRENDSKITCHENS .CO.NZ NELSON | BLENHEIM | CHRISTCHURCH | CROMWELL | AUCKLAND Proud to Support Nelson Housing Trust SPARKS Showroom - 14 Tokomaru Place, Wakatu Estate, Nelson Phone - 03 544 4747 | Email - admin@brightsparkselectrical.co.nz
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=