Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities has accelerated the delivery of transitional homes over recent months as part of the Government’s commitment to build more of this housing category under the Aotearoa New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan (HAP).
Families have this week begun moving into 83 new transitional homes in Atkinson Avenue, Ōtāhuhu (pictured at the end of this bulletin). This is the fourth transitional housing project delivered in the Auckland region recently.
Transitional housing is managed by third-party housing and support services providers and offers temporary accommodation for around 12 weeks, along with wrap-around support services and assistance to help households transition into long-term accommodation. It differs from emergency housing, which involves a one-off grant funded by the Ministry of Social Development to support people into urgent, short-term accommodation.
Two of the four recently completed Auckland projects utilised offsite manufacturing (OSM). Seventeen completed homes in Garus Avenue were constructed in Huntly by Built Smart and transported to Māngere by truck. In Cambridge, Perry Modular Homes built 11 homes before transporting them to Māngere’s Cottingham Avenue.
The supply of transitional housing has increased significantly. In the three years until the end of January this year, the number of transitional housing places available for tenanting has more than doubled to almost 4,000. In the past 12 months, more transitional housing has been added in cities and towns across the country. This has seen increases in Auckland of 584 homes, Waikato of 68, and East Coast of 42, with more in the pipeline.
The recently announced Housing Acceleration Fund will jump-start housing developments of all kinds by funding the necessary services, like roads and pipes to homes, which are currently holding up development. This will increase and accelerate the supply of public, affordable and market housing by Kāinga Ora and its development partners. The fund also enables Kāinga Ora to undertake strategic land acquisitions and land development to accelerate urban development projects.
You can keep in touch and sign your colleagues up to receive the bulletin by emailing updates@kaingaora.govt.nz.
Message from our land development, construction, commercial and urban planning leaders
As you’ll be aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on global manufacturing, supply chains and logistics. Recently, we’ve seen congestion at ports, a global container shortage, price increases and supply constraints. This has been compounded by a local boom in construction activity.
Kāinga Ora teams have been in touch with our main suppliers to ensure the continued supply of materials and products. Our advice to our build and development partners is to forward plan and place orders for any materials you require well in advance as lead times have extended and some delays are occurring. We will continue to monitor this changing situation and will offer any assistance we can to our partners. Please get in touch with your Kāinga Ora contact should you be facing any constraints.
Reminder on employment conditions
Recent media reports have cited instances of alleged worker exploitation in the construction sector. It is important to us that everyone that works with Kāinga Ora is paid on time, is paid their lawful and rightful wages or salaries for the time they work, is treated properly on site and gets home safe and well at the end of every day.
We know that our partners are keen to do the right thing for their people and those they contract with. In working with us, whether you are the head contractor or a subbie, it is our expectation that everyone that works on our construction and development programmes, and in our homes, is treated fairly and ethically.
Kāinga Ora contracts and purchase orders include our requirements and expectations that those who work directly with us comply with all relevant New Zealand legislation, including health & safety regulations, and act with integrity in all work dealings. In coming months, site signage will give guidance to anyone who is concerned about working conditions and who may wish to contact New Zealand’s Labour Inspectorate.
Working with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei on the flagship Greys Ave project
A new Kāinga Ora video shows our partnership with Auckland iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and lead contractor Icon on our 276-home Greys Ave development in central Auckland. Icon has a 4-7 percent target for engaging Māori and Pasifika businesses or social enterprises on the project. Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei had five designers working within the project’s design team during the development of the building design and continues to be an integral partner throughout construction, and once the building is in operation.
Future opportunities to create employment opportunities for iwi members and Kāinga Ora customers are also under discussion. The approach at 139 Greys Ave aligns with the Kāinga Ora focus on creating partnerships with iwi and opportunities for Māori and Pasifika businesses.
Northland Amotai sub-contractor joins Puriri Park Road project
Kāinga Ora build partner Mike Greer Commercial has appointed its first Māori sub-contractor from the Amotai network of Te Tai Tokerau / Northland construction businesses. Whangārei-based Caliber Electrics will work on the Kāinga Ora 37-home development in Puriri Park Rd, Maunu.
Amotai connects buyers with Māori and Pasifika-owned businesses and promotes supplier diversity and development in Aotearoa. Following an introduction by Kāinga Ora, Amotai facilitated a meet and greet hui for Mike Greer Commercial, bringing together 15 local Māori business owners who whakapapa to the Northland region.
Mike Greer Commercial Business Development Manager Rachel Gallagher says: “When you work with Kāinga Ora and Amotai, you get a greater understanding that our work is more than just building houses. All these sub-contractors have their own stories.
“Many of them give back to their communities. We used to look at building houses as a transactional process, but it's bigger than that. Together we’re building homes for whānau to become a part of a community, for their kids to go to local schools, to join sports clubs, to make new friends.”
Undertaking collaborative construction partnerships with the industry and Māori for better outcomes is an initiative under Building Momentum – our construction plan for future homes. Kāinga Ora is a buyer partner with Amotai and is rolling out supplier diversity programmes nationwide and with other build partners.
Amotai Relationship Manager Kahurangi Malcolm says: “Kāinga Ora has really helped catalyse supplier diversity in the regions. Seeing Māori businesses win work as a result of our great relationship and willing build partners gives us lots of optimism about what can be achieved”.
Earthworks and underground infrastructure is underway on the Puriri Park Road site. Building work is set to start in May. Please email taylor.norman@kaingaora.govt.nz to get involved with the Kāinga Ora-Amotai partnership.
Caliber Electrics’ owners Trent and Rachel Beazley.
Building Momentum framework in implementation
Building Momentum - our construction plan for future homes is now in its implementation phase and you can view a summary of the implementation plan here.
A foundation project for Building Momentum is Project Velocity, which is redesigning our processes across the entire business case, land development/acquisition, consultant, property development and construction lifecycle at Kāinga Ora. The aim of this Lean-style project is to create better flow in our construction processes, eliminating gaps and waste, unlocking areas that hold us up and developing new approaches for Kāinga Ora and our suppliers and partners. You’ll hear more about this project in future bulletins.
What our Construction Intentions show
An early Building Momentum initiative was the publication of the Kāinga Ora 2021-2024 construction intentions for public and supported housing, giving our partners data as to the volume and type of homes we’re planning to deliver around the country. You can find this data on the Kāinga Ora website here with supporting information here.
Our construction intentions reveal the following trends:
- A continuing increase in larger-scale projects as Kāinga Ora utilises its land more effectively through walk-ups and apartments
- The number of projects delivering more than 40 units will increase from six projects yielding 400 homes this year to 20 projects delivering more than 1,400 homes in 2024
- Year-on-year increases of between 20-30 percent will see Kāinga Ora deliver unprecedented numbers of homes.
Industry outreach event
As outlined in last month’s bulletin, the Building Momentum event for our industry partners will take place in Christchurch on Friday 14 May. Please register if you plan to attend in person. For those unable to attend, there’s a middle of the day webinar you could register for.
Rohan Bush and Ken Lotu-Iiga of Kāinga Ora will update participants on the Building Momentum programme of work, and there will be learning sessions from Lucy Black and Stephen Good of Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC), Greg Ford and Darren Cutfield of Built Environs and BRANZ’s Anne Duncan.
Going up: The 83-transitional home development in Atkinson Ave, Ōtāhuhu, across two, six-storey buildings, includes a shared greenspace, play area and community room. The centre will be managed by housing and support services provider Kāhui Tū Kaha.
