A grant from the Nelson City Council will enable the Nelson Tasman Housing Trust to press ahead with a planned development of 10 new affordable rental homes in Dodson Valley, Atawhai.
The council has approved a grant of $1 million to the project, from its Housing Reserve fund. It also granted $1 million to Habitat for Humanity Nelson for a planned development of affordable rental homes in central Nelson.
Nelson Tasman Housing Trust director Carrie Mozena said the trust appreciated the grant, which would help it to secure further funding from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. The trust already has a site in Dodson Valley Rd and plans to build 10 affordable rental homes for families on low to modest incomes.
Chair of the council's Urban Development Subcommittee, Deputy Mayor Judene Edgar, said the housing need in Nelson was huge and recent floods had created further pressure by displacing people from their homes and rentals. There was an urgent need to build Nelson's housing capacity and the grants would support trusted community housing providers to do that, she said.
The grant is part of Phase Two of the Housing Reserve fund, which was set up in 2020 following the sale of the council's community housing units to Kāinga Ora. In Phase One earlier this year NTHT was awarded $850,000 to develop five new affordable rental homes in Muritai St, Tāhunanui. Those homes are currently being built.