July 12, 2021
Whakaue on a roll with housing development
Ngāti Whakaue Tribal Lands is looking to offer some of its whānau affordable homes overlooking Lake Rotorua.
The trust has prepared the ground for the first stage of a 106 hectare Wharenui Rise development at Ōwhata, near to Rotorua Airport, and it’s just waiting for titles so building can start.
General manager Ray Morrison says eight of the 52 lots are earmarked for affordable housing, which in that part of the country means $500,000 or less, which can be achieved by strategies such as sharing the infrastructure across a larger development.
"The key for us is we have been able to get a good team on board. That's from our designers through to a good team of earthworks guys and our civil works contractors so it has all flowed in quite nicely and we have all worked out how we work well together and work as a team so we are going to carry on and roll out future stages as we go," he says.
There is room at Ōwhata to build more than 1000 houses over the next 15 or 20 years, and Ngāti Whakaue has access to other land which can also be used for housing, including leasehold and social housing options.
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