Scholarships for future public housing professionals

11 May 2018

Housing New Zealand awards scholarships to future public housing professionals

Housing New Zealand last night awarded its annual scholarships to two Bachelor of Property students to help foster future talent and awareness of opportunities in the public housing sector.

Patrick Dougherty, Housing New Zealand’s General Manager Asset Development, awarded the scholarships to two University of Auckland students at the University Department of Property Annual Dinner. The winning recipients were fourth-year student Belinda Kilian and third-year student Megh Shah; they each receive $5000 to offset their study fees.

“Housing New Zealand wants to encourage young people with talent who wish to make their careers in the growing field of quality state housing provision,” said Mr Dougherty.

“These two young people have great futures ahead of them; we hope they will make their careers in New Zealand to help provide innovative solutions to the country’s housing challenges.”

The Housing New Zealand Scholarships are open to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents who are studying property at third year or above.

Belinda, who plans to spend her final semester studying in Amsterdam, will be offered the opportunity to join a Housing New Zealand’s graduate programme in 2019. She has an interest in state housing and does voluntary work with intellectually impaired youth.

Megh works with deaf and hearing impaired people via government agency New Zealand Relay.

“The people we work with are often Housing New Zealand clients,” said Megh. “We’ve assisted them by securing homes for them and modified the houses to fit their needs.

“As a Kiwi, I’d love to use my skills and experience to contribute back to our community.”

The winning scholarship students will be offered the opportunity of paid part-time work at Housing New Zealand during their studies. After graduation they may have the opportunity to join a Housing New Zealand graduate programme which will provide a range of experience relating to property development and delivery. The graduate programme will also be open to applicants from all educational facilities.

Graduates will have specific public housing sector days when they can take a closer look at Housing New Zealand’s activities as it delivers ever greater numbers of state homes to meet demand.

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