21 July 2022
Rotorua Lakes Council receives almost $85million from Government Infrastructure Acceleration Fund
Rotorua Lakes Council has received $84.6million from Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund for stormwater projects to enable housing in the district - a significant portion of the $1billion fund.
Housing Minister, Dr Megan Woods, announced allocations from the fund today. (See the Minister's full release HERE.)
Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick said the funding would have significant benefits for the district.
“Today’s announcement is huge for our community. This funding not only enables us to accelerate Council’s infrastructure programme and reduce the timeframe for completion from 30 years to seven, it will also enable the construction of more than 3000 homes.
“As climate change impacts, this investment will also protect our communities.”
Mayor Chadwick said today was the culmination of work that began with the government in 2020 when Minister Woods committed to working with Rotorua on housing solutions and undertaking a place-based assessment of the city’s housing challenges.
“This provided further traction to work already underway with Te Arawa iwi, government agencies and other stakeholders to deliver housing solutions,” Mayor Chadwick said.
“Together we developed a housing plan and established an emergency housing taskforce that has delivered contracted, supported emergency housing options for families and the establishment of Te Pokapū community housing hub to support people into appropriate housing.
“A lot has been achieved so far and today’s announcement is another significant building block for us,” the Mayor said.
“Building our way out of this critical housing shortage is part of what we need to do, and infrastructure is absolutely key to enabling that to happen.
“This is not something we could have achieved on our own. This scale of work can only be achieved when working in partnership.
“We have a transformational programme of work and investment planned for our critical infrastructure that will support the network’s capacity and capability to cope with housing intensification, greenfield development, and the impacts of climate change.
“Infrastructure is the stuff under the ground that people don’t really see but it’s absolutely critical to enable the construction of more homes.
“We’ve always understood the complexities around the housing shortage and it’s fantastic that our approach is bearing fruit in the form of this much-needed funding. We haven’t previously had the growth to require or attract the level of investment that we very much need now.
“This puts us in great heart and will be a great start for the new council in the new triennium, knowing we will be able to fast-track much-needed infrastructure to enable more houses to be built, and housing choices, for our people.”
Minister Woods said there was “enormous interest” in the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund from regions wanting to build more housing for their communities but needing funding support to make developments viable.
Infrastructure was “a massive piece of the missing puzzle in the housing crisis”, she said.
“Rotorua simply does not have enough houses. Since 2013 the population has grown by 9,000 people but the number of new consents has only been 1,500. The way we fix Rotorua’s housing crisis is by building more homes. Our government is making that investment and backing Rotorua.”
Investing in infrastructure was not a quick solution but was critical for ensuring a meaningful number of new houses could be brought on stream, the Minister said.
The Infrastructure Acceleration Fund
Administered by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, the contestable Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF) is a key component of the Government’s $3.8 billion Housing Acceleration Fund announced in March 2021, aimed at enabling infrastructure to support new housing supply.
Rotorua Lakes Council’s initial IAF applications were for stormwater investment in the Eastern, Western and Central areas of Rotorua city, totalling $113m. Following the funder’s request to combine the Western and Central proposals into one, this was progressed to the next stage of the application process, along with 34 other proposals.
Council applied for $99.6m (of a $122million stormwater programme) for works in the Western and Central areas which include upgrades to stormwater pipe networks, detention dams to manage stormwater during weather events to reduce flood risks in residential areas, and upgrading of pump stations. The improvements are required to cope with housing intensification in these areas and to improve climate resilience in relation to stormwater.
The $85million awarded today will go towards the Western and Central works, with the additional $36million required for the rest of the stormwater programme funded by council and developers.
These works will contribute to Council’s programme of infrastructure projects, totalling $202million, to be delivered by 2029 in order to achieve 3,086 housing outcomes in the Western and Central areas.
The works to be completed are linked to a broad programme of work identified in the district’s Homes and Thriving Communities Strategy Framework – He Papakāinga, He Hāpori Taurikura, aimed at addressing housing and community wellbeing in the district and developed in partnership with Te Arawa and Central Government Agencies, with community input.
Works to be completed in Rotorua with IAF investment
Western – to enable an estimate of up to 1320 new dwellings
- Three major stormwater detention ponds with wetlands
- Upgrades to stormwater pipe network
Central – to enable an estimate of up to 1765 new dwellings
- Upgrades to Tilsley Street pump station to direct water towards the east, away from Utuhina Stream
- Stormwater pipe network upgrades
Note: Feasibility and detailed designs will be completed as part of the work programme.
