Ten new one-bedroom pensioner units are nearing completion in Leamington in a development which has become something of an oddity in other communities.
Workers put the finishing touches to the gardens of the 10 new one-bedroom pensioner units in Leamington. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Waipā is one of the few councils which still provides housing for older people in the community and it has become increasingly rare to see new ones built.
The one-bedroom, one-storey units on the corner of Thompson St and Shakespeare St are next to the council’s existing Vaile Court housing.
Funding for the new units was ring-fenced six years ago and the $3.6 million contract awarded last year.
Livingstone Building built the units to a six Homestar rating equivalent which ensures warmer, drier, and healthier homes. The units include a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living area as well as outdoor space but no garages.
Several trees – none of them native and with no long-tail bats present – were felled to accommodate the homes while a new road and entrance was built into the complex.
Artist’s impression of the pensioner housing.
Tenants are expected to move in later this month with an open day planned before that.
Waipā provides housing for just over 100 people in 93 units across seven complexes in Cambridge, Kihikihi and Te Awamutu. The units offer a home for retired people over the age of 65 who comply with the council’s criteria for subsidised rent.
Habitat for Humanity will manage the rental process at Vaile Court while the council will continue to own and maintain the units under a lease agreement.
The residents in the new units will be 60 years and over under an agreement between Habitat for Humanity and the Ministry for Housing and Development.
Potential tenants must be on the Ministry of Social Development’s housing register.
Workers put the finishing touches to the gardens of the 10 new one-bedroom pensioner units in Leamington. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
