Ruapehu District Council, Te Puni Kokiri / Ministry of Maori Development and the Taumarunui Community Kokiri Trust are celebrating the Trust’s purchase of the derelict Heritage Court apartments on Huia St in Taumarunui that will see them demolished and replaced with new community housing.

Funding for the project has come from a $2.1m Te Puni Kokiri investment into the Whanau and Community Development Investment programme for Taumarunui and Te Kuiti.

This funding will be used by the Taumarunui Community Kokiri Trust to help to repair existing homes and build six new transitional housing units on the Huia St site that will form part of a pathway to support whanau into living better lives and potential home ownership.

Ruapehu Mayor Don Cameron said that the sale of the Heritage Court property to the Taumarunui Community Kokiri Trust under the Abandoned Land sale process supported Council’s Social Policy.

“We are very pleased to be able to support this local community housing programme whose objectives align with our own goal of supporting and developing social resilience,” said Mayor Cameron.

Kokiri Trust Chief Executive Christine Brears said that the Trust wanted to thank both Council and Te Puni Kokiri for their support and commitment to improving housing conditions in the region.

As part of their tenancy in the new homes all families will have a full assessment under the Whanau Ora model of care that will provide a complete picture of where they are struggling and what support they need.

We are then able to provide full wrap around services to allow the family to sort out whatever issues they have be it health, financial, employment, etc. and start the process of helping them develop self-confidence and skills to help themselves.

Getting families into a warm, dry, healthy home where they have security is the starting point of providing the family with stability and then moving them bit by bit into a better place.

Mrs Brears added that the Huia St site is ideally located for whanau who don’t have transport and who require access to other Agencies and services such as medical care, etc. while the redevelopment will remove what is an ugly eyesore and Council will get a good ratepayer.

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