23 April 2025: new house builds, ANZAC Day
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: New house builds
Enquiry
I've gotten around to writing about the number of new house builds and wanted to ask a couple of questions.
Jean-Paul Gaston wrote in the meeting agenda how the city deviated from the national decline in building numbers because of the multi-year investment of Kāinga Ora, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) support for Māori affordable rental development and significant stage developments such as Freedom Village.
May I ask what the make-up of the 522 figure was roughly, in relation to the above?
And just on the about 3000 homes by 2032 goal under the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund housing outcome agreement, how many have been built since that came about?
Any comment on that progress?
Response
We provided the following information, attributable to GM Destination Development Jean-Paul Gaston:
Based on data we hold for the year ending 31 December 2024 (noting we don’t always know whether a finished house has been purchased by a social housing provider), we believe 262 of the 522 new builds are social or affordable rentals. We do not know the split between Kainga Ora, community housing providers (CHPs) or iwi affordable rental development.
For the year ending 31 December 2023, the number of social and affordable rental homes was 103 of 394 new builds.
The IAF agreement relates to total homes built in the central and western areas of Rotorua city:
Western area – 199 homes in 2023, 253 homes in 2024
Central area – 38 homes in 2023, 51 homes in 2024
This total 541 homes of all types (social and market) towards the goal of approximately 3000 by 2032.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: ANZAC Day
Enquiry
Reporter asked Mayor Tapsell for some comment for a pre-ANZAC day article.
Response
From Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell:
“This day of remembrance remains an important reminder to us all of the losses created by war, and a moment to honour the sacrifice of our young local soldiers who fought for our safety and security. With recent conflicts across the world it's a chilling reminder of how we cannot stay complacent in the pursuit of peace. Anzac day is a time to come together as a community and celebrate the strength of unity.”
