Nelson City Council community housing settlement complete
Nelson City Council and Kāinga Ora have reached settlement on their agreement to transfer 142 community housing properties previously owned and managed by Council.
The transfer of the homes and customers took effect on Friday March 19.
This agreement means Council now has a $12 million Housing Reserve, which will be used to help stimulate a range of affordable housing options in the region.
Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese expressed her gratitude to the Nelson Tasman Housing Trust (NTHT), which managed the community housing on Council’s behalf.
“I’d like to say thank you to NTHT for its dedication to our community housing tenants. The wellbeing of our tenants has been key for Council throughout this process and because the Trust is so capable we knew they were in very good hands. I very much look forward to working with the Trust in future as we explore ways of expanding affordable housing in Nelson.”
Mayor Reese says she is confident that Kāinga Ora Nelson-based Area Manager Dale Bradley and Tenancy Manager Ariana Ngaruhe will provide excellent support to their new tenants.
“I know that Kāinga Ora will take great care of these Nelson residents. Kāinga Ora are ideally placed to make improvements to the housing and support their new tenants, and this is one of the key reasons we chose to divest our community housing to them.”
All council tenants have retained their current tenancy as part of the agreement.
Nelson-based Area Manager Dale, from Kāinga Ora, says he and his local team of staff are looking forward to welcoming and working with the new tenants.
“It’s exciting to start forming new relationships with the former council tenants. Bringing these tenants into the wider Kāinga Ora whānau is something my team are looking to embrace.’’
Mayor Reese says Council, Kāinga Ora and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) worked together to ensure a smooth transfer of the properties.
“Many people have put a lot of effort into this agreement, which will provide significant opportunities for Nelson. I’d like to thank Kāinga Ora and MSD for the collaborative way in which we were able to work throughout this project.”
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