Tony Travers

Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities

The creation of the new delivery agency Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities on 1 October 2019 marks the beginning of a step change in housing and urban development in New Zealand. Kāinga Ora brings together the people, capabilities and resources of the KiwiBuild Unit, Housing New Zealand and its development subsidiary HLC. This is designed to enable a more cohesive, joined-up approach to delivering the Government's priorities for housing and urban development in New Zealand. These priorities include addressing homelessness and making homes more affordable for New Zealanders. Kāinga Ora has two key roles: - being a world-class public housing landlord - partnering with the development community, Māori, local and central government, and others on urban development projects of all sizes. Kāinga Ora will continue to provide the tenancy services that were previously provided by Housing New Zealand, as well as maintaining and developing its public housing stock and providing home ownership products and other services. There are increased expectations on Kāinga Ora to prioritise tenants' wellbeing, and provide tenants with good quality, warm, dry and healthy homes. In its new urban development role, Kāinga Ora will work in partnership to deliver quality urban development that connects homes with jobs, transport, open spaces and the facilities they need. This includes accelerating the availability of build-ready land, and building a mix of housing including public housing, affordable housing, homes for first home buyers and market housing of different types, sizes and tenures.