Govt looks to new partnerships to deliver 1000 homes

14th April 2025 By Staff Reporter | news@propertyticker.co.nz | @propertyticker

The government has confirmed strategic partnerships with five Community Housing Providers (CHPs) and says it is on track to deliver 1,500 social homes funded from Budget 2024.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said that 500 homes were being delivered through projects previously identified by CHPs as potential social homes but the majority of the remaining 1,000 places would be delivered through strategic partnerships.

“Under the maintaining momentum pathway, contracting is done on a project-by-project basis, Bishop said in a statement on Friday.

“This means, if a CHP has three developments they will need to go through the application and approval process three times and have three separate contracts with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

“In the short term, this was the most efficient way of getting on with delivering social homes, because CHPs had already completed some preparatory work on these projects.

“To make contracting more efficient, the Government is taking a new approach to delivering social housing – Strategic Partnerships. These partnerships will be used to allocate the majority of the remaining 1,000 places.”

The five CHPs selected to deliver places under the strategic partnership model are:

1. Accessible Properties New Zealand Limited
2. Community of Refuge Trust (CORT)
3. Emerge Aotearoa Housing Trust
4. Te Āhuru Mōwai Limited Partnership
5. The Salvation Army

So far, 661 social housing places have been committed through strategic partnerships. 

In terms of location, 23% of places identified so far are in the Waikato area, 21% are in Auckland, 15% are in Nelson, 14% are in the Bay of Plenty area, and the other 27% are other priority locations.

The government said the new partnerships are part of its drive to close the housebuilding gap between Kāinga Ora and CHPs.

These included establishing Crown lending facilities of up to $150m for the Community Housing Funding Agency, exploring a loan guarantee scheme for CHPs, making up to $70m of Operating Supplement available upfront to CHPs, and changing contractual terms to make social housing revenue streams more attractive to lenders.