New homes open in Halswell

Our 12th new community is all about collaboration and innovation.

We opened six new, 2-bedroom homes in Halswell, on September 7. It’s our 12th community of new homes – we’ve opened 235 since 2019 – and our first in the city’s fast-growing southwest.

Opening the development, Housing Minister Megan Woods said the homes showed what was possible when the government and the Trust worked together.

“Total investment into the development is now $5.3 million with a 25-year contract for ŌCHT to run it as public housing,” she said.

“We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with ŌCHT and working together to build more new public homes in Christchurch.”

They’re also pillars of whanau development and wellbeing: a place for the great kiwis of the future to grow and make their lives, Dr Woods said.

The new homes are the latest addition to New Zealand’s public housing count. New Zealand has a net 10,000 more public homes now than in November 2017 – and community housing providers such as ŌCHT feature heavily.

There are now about 11,000 community housing provider-managed homes on the books. There were about 5000 in late 2017, Dr Woods said.

Christchurch Deputy Mayor Andrew Turner, a former and foundation ŌCHT trustee, said our high-spec homes set another benchmark for community housing in the city.

They were built using high-quality, robust materials and have a New Zealand Green Building Council Homestar 7 rating so they’ll be cheap and efficient to run for years to come.

They’re exactly what the council hoped for when the trust was established and capitalised by the council, Mr Turner said.

The land upon which the homes were built was transferred to ŌCHT by the council.

It’s now home to homes designed and built by Naylor Love. They combine ŌCHT’s specifications with building innovations Naylor Love plans to deliver elsewhere in New Zealand.

ŌCHT chief executive Cate Kearney paid tribute to Naylor Love’s work and to the wider project team for delivering modern, architecturally designed homes that’ll provide security and opportunities for families in need.

“They’re beautiful family homes, they’re what should be being built around New Zealand; they’re homes that make sense.”

The open-plan homes are a variant of Naylor Love’s Mahana House design, developed as a resource and time efficient response to community housing demand nationally.

Naylor Love hopes to build more such homes around the country.

Since 2019, ŌCHT’s opened 235 new homes in Opawa, Hornby, Waltham, Sydenham, St Martins, New Brighton, Richmond, St Albans and now, Halswell.