Previous News
September 2011 - Inside Housing Article by Trust Chair
A short article by Trust Chair Paul Scholey has recently been published on the UK's Inside Housing website. The article Tackling the crisis outlines the current housing situation in New Zealand.
September 2011 - Director Quoted in Dominion Post
Director Alison Cadman is quoted in an article called 'Affordable-housing crisis sees hidden homelessness' in the Dominion Post Weekend, 3rd-4th September. An abridged version of the article is available online.
September 2011 - Berhampore Housing Project Progress
The Trust's latest housing project will create four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore. The photographs below were taken on 2 September 2011.
August 2011 - Berhampore Housing Project Progress
The Trust's latest housing project will create four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore. The photographs below were taken on 3 August 2011.
July 2011 - Berhampore Housing Project Progress
The Trust's latest housing project will create four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore. The photographs below were taken on 10 July 2011.
June 2011 - Visit to Pathways To Housing, New York
In May, while on a personal trip to New York, our Director Alison Cadman visited a couple of housing projects. A highlight was her visit to Pathways to Housing in Harlem, NYC. Pathways to Housing was founded by Dr Sam Tsemberis in 1992 and is widely credited as being the originator of the revolutionary "Housing First" model of addressing homelessness among people with mental illnesses and addictions.
The Pathways Housing First model is simple: provide housing first, and then combine that housing with supportive treatment services in the areas of mental and physical health, substance abuse, education and employment.
Alison met with Juliana Walker, pictured below, who is Pathways' Director of Training. Juliana is now training agencies and their staff in the Housing First model all over the US and Canada and starting to work in Europe and Australia.
Research shows that the cost of providing a home and support services to someone who is homeless and mentally ill is significantly less than the expense incurred by people cycling in and out of emergency services, shelters, psychiatric hospitals and jails. Pathways provides the dignity of a home and so much more, but costs less.
"What Pathways achieves is inspiring. It was such a privilege to meet Juliana. I visited one of their wellness centres and met some of the people they work with. The difference this model has made to the people I met was very moving and an experience I won’t forget," said Alison.
"I was fascinated by how the issues of funding, housing markets and market rentals were so similar in NY to those in NZ. Of course the scale is completely different. However the provision of housing and housing services by non-government organisations is so much more advanced in NY than in NZ. The innovation, creativity and flexibility that non-profits have is so refreshing and inspirational."
More information on the Pathways to Housing project can be found at www.pathwaystohousing.org
"Housing first ends homelessness. It’s that simple." Dr Sam Tsemberis, CEO and Founder Pathways to Housing
June 2011 - Further Housing Innovation Funds Secured
The Trust has secured funding from Housing New Zealand's Housing Innovation Fund for a third time. Read the press release from the Minister of Housing.
Press Release 16 June 2011: Government Funding to Provide 34 Homes
June 2011 - Berhampore Housing Project Progress
The Trust's latest housing project will create four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore. The photographs below were taken on 11 June 2011.
May 2011 - Trust Excels in Hothouse Competition
As part of the Community Economic Development conference on 19th and 20th April in Auckland the NZ Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations ran “The HotHouse” competition. The Hothouse was derived from the reality television series "Dragon’s Den".
Groups from all over NZ were encouraged to present the organisers with an enterprising idea – whether rough and ready or well polished – that combined making a profit with community benefit. It was an opportunity to win some extra cash and professional support to develop a first rate application for a social loan.
The Trust’s entry into the competition was short listed and we were given the chance to pitch our idea to an expert panel of leading business and community practitioners. We were thrilled when our Director Alison Cadman pulled off 1st equal in the 'Water your Grass Roots' section of The Hothouse.
Our idea was to develop a housing project and sell some of the homes to fund the others. A social loan would support the purchasing of land when an opportunity arose. We so often lose the opportunity to purchase land as finance is not available.
"It was a fantastic opportunity for me personally, the Trust and community housing" says Alison. "It was invaluable being in front of potential partners and others, talking about our ideas and issues. Appropriate social lending is needed for community housing organisations and we hope to see this increasing in the future."
May 2011 - Berhampore Housing Project Progress
The Trust's latest housing project will create four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore. The photographs below were taken on 1 May 2011.
The architects' drawings below show the finished design.
McKenzie and Higham, who are the architects for this project, have also posted further photographs of the site.
April 2011 - Berhampore Housing Project Progress
The Trust's latest housing project will create four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore. The photographs below were taken on 6 April 2011.
March 2011 - Berhampore Housing Project Progress
The Trust's latest housing project will create four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore. The photographs below were taken on 1 March 2011.
January 2011 - Berhampore Housing Project Begins
The Trust's latest housing project will create four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore.
The photograph below shows the blessing of the site before construction began. Left to Right: Mark Ansell (MacKenzie Higham Architects), Alison Cadman (Wellington Housing Trust Director), Don Borrie (Wellington Housing Trust Trustee), Sam Jackson (Kaumātua), Toni Doile (Armstrong Downes Construction), June Jackson (Kaumātua)
The photograph below was taken on 20 January 2011.
October 2010 - WHT Shortlisted For Further Funding
The Trust has been shortlisted for funding from Housing New Zealand's Housing Innovation Fund (HIF). This is our third successful application to the fund and we are planning to use the money to build four new good quality, affordable homes.
October 2010 - WCC Candidate Survey on Housing Affordability
Housing Research has shown that affordability is a real issue in Wellington. The Trust sent a survey on housing affordability to all candidates for Wellington City Council to assess their awareness of local housing issues. Their responses have been gathered in the report Housing Affordability in Wellington : A Survey of Candidates for Wellington City Council (PDF, 155kb).
October 2010 - Trust Receives Wellington City Council Grant
The Trust was delighted to receive a $6,000 grant from Wellington City Council. The money will fund various capacity building projects that will help us provide a wider range of services.
September 2010 - Director Commentary Published in Housing Works Journal
Trust Director Alison Cadman is one of the New Zealand housing professionals commenting on the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in the August 2010 issue of Housing Works, the Journal of the Australasian Housing Institute.
August 2010 - Letter to the Editor
Following the publication of the Housing Shareholders Advisory Group report Home and Housed the Trust has the following letter published in the 16th August issue of the Dominion Post:
Our organisation has been providing affordable housing to low income people in Wellington City for almost 30 years. We see constantly the reality of a social housing system that is no longer meeting growing needs. We could be providing housing on a much larger scale if we received adequate and appropriate funding support from government.
International research shows that growing the not-for-profit housing sector is a successful way of increasing the supply of social housing stock. There are many benefits for governments using this sector including better outcomes for tenants and communities, and government investment. The sector has the capacity to borrow against the properties they own and are well-placed to attract support from other partners. Currently in Australia, for every dollar spent by the government, not-for-profit housing agencies attract an extra 25 to 30 percent from private, philanthropic and local government sources. Simply put, this model creates more homes.
There is no doubt the debate about social housing provision is overdue in this country. Whatever the model used, the government must keep its investment in social housing. The real debate is what is the most effective use of this investment?
Alison Cadman, Director, Wellington Housing Trust
August 2010 - Resource Consent Granted
The resource consent for the Trust's latest building project has been granted. The Trust will be building four new four bedroom houses in Berhampore.
May 2010 - Trust Director Featured in AHI Photographic Exhibition
Trust Director Alison Cadman is featured in the The Australasian Housing Institute's travelling photographic exhibition, a collection of portraits of housing professionals from around Australia and New Zealand.
AHI Travelling Photographic Exhibition
April 2010 - Progressive Building Article
The Trust's Stoke Street Housing Project is featured in the April 2010 issue of Progressive Building, the official journal of the New Zealand Institute of Building.
March 2010 - Further Housing Innovation Funds Secured
The Trust has once again secured funding from Housing New Zealand's Housing Innovation Fund. Read the press release from the Minister of Housing.
Housing Innovation Fund Recipients Press Release 30 March 2010
February 2009 - Opening Address of the Wellington Housing Trust
Read the opening address, given by Hon Tariana Turia, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, on Wednesday 18 February 2009.
Opening Address of the Wellington Housing Trust 2009 (PDF, 77kb)
February 2009 - Stoke Street Housing Project
Read about our Newtown community housing project.
Trust home spells end to cramped life - by Katherine Newtown, Dominion Post
Milestone housing project for Wellington Housing Trust (PDF, 158kb) - by Community Housing Aotearoa
Come Together, Right Now (PDF, 57kb) - by Alison Cadman, WHT Director
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