We’re delighted to celebrate the next step in the renewal of the former Wesleyhaven resthome and hospital in Naenae: the completion of the first four new affordable rental homes on the site.
Hutt City mayor Campbell Barry will help mark this significant milestone at a ceremony being held at Wesley Rātā Village at 10am on Wednesday November 20.
The four homes are the first of 25 new rental homes being built on the site. They’ll be made available to people on the Government Housing Register, providing warm, safe, dry housing to people struggling in a difficult rental market.
Our director David Hanna says it’s hoped the new tenants will move into the first four homes in the next few weeks. Work is now well underway on building the other 21 homes.
He says the 25 new homes, along with 30 existing rental units, are central to our vision of developing the beautiful, 60-hectare site into a community resource that provides good homes for residents and is a place for Naenae’s community to come together and build wellbeing and resilience.
“After we made the difficult decision to close Wesleyhaven we asked the community what they needed. The message came back loud and clear – warm, dry, safe homes.”
Most of the new homes will be made available to older people, reflecting the site’s previous history. However, the larger (4-bedroom) homes will be rented to families.
“Healthy communities are intergenerational. We have shifted our focus from institutional care to helping create a village of people wanting to live in their own place surrounded by opportunities to engage, contribute, and retreat.”
David says the homes are about more than providing shelter. “We are an organisation committed to growing community. The existing residents’ association will be actively involved in welcoming new residents, and all the tenants will work together to turn the units into homes – and create a community.”
Support from Hutt City Council will help this to happen. We’ve partnered with the council, and received three years of funding, so it can continue developing a model for how the community can include and support seniors and kaumātua as they age.
The $8.4m building project is being led by Wesley Community Action with support from the Methodist Trust Association, Airedale Property Trust and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
The prefabricated homes are being built by EasyBuild with support from Kiwi Can Do.