A 42-home community will be developed in Cambridge
A local charitable trust has launched an ambitious development to address the desperate need for affordable housing in the Waikato.
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The Bridge Housing Trust, set up by The Brian Perry Charitable Trust, plans to develop a brand new, 42-home community in the Waikato town of Cambridge.
Peake Mews will offer affordable, architecturally designed housing in an innovative, vibrant, and connected community with a range of leasehold and freehold models and collaborative partnerships to maximise long-term impact and security for the owners. The site will include blocks of terraced two and three bedroom houses, with the master plan to incorporate, gardens and areas for outdoor active recreation.
About half of the homes will be sold on the open market while the remaining houses will be sold through a secured housing model, developed to create an alternative option to homeownership.
“The Bridge Housing Trust was set up in late 2021 with the sole objective of doing something positive and lasting in the Waikato community to help combat the dire housing situation,” said Jennifer Palmer, general manager of The Brian Perry Charitable Trust. “Research carried out by the Waikato Housing Initiative shows, the average Waikato house cost more than 17 times the annual minimum wage. The number of properties in the hands of investors increased 191% between 1986 and 2018. Investors now own over a quarter of the occupied housing stock and the number of entry-level homes in Hamilton (<$500K) dropped from 84% in 2014 to 3% in 2021.”
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Palmer said the Waikato Housing Initiative also found a shortage of 7,500 houses in the Waikato today, with more than 50,000 new homes needed by 2043.
“We set up the Bridge Housing Trust to look for solutions and had to think outside the box,” she said. “We looked at models around the world that approach this problem differently and found the secured housing model. The objective of Secure Home is to provide quality, affordable housing, as well as long-term housing stability and security in the same way that freehold homeownership does.”
An award-winning architectural firm was commissioned to design the community and a local building firm with 20 years’ experience was tapped to carry out construction.
Peake Mews is the first initiative to be launched by the trust, which plans to roll out the model throughout the Waikato. The first 13 freehold properties at Peake Mews have been released to the market and are expected to be completed in May 2023.
“There’s a real need for affordable housing in Cambridge. Like everywhere in New Zealand, we’ve seen a huge increase in house prices and a lot of people have been priced out of the market,” said Sacha Webb from Cambridge Real Estate who is selling the freehold titles. “This is a very exciting venture. The Brian Perry Charitable Trust has carried out some incredible projects in our community, such as the Avantidrome and our new Te Awa River Cycleway. These projects are always done to a very high standard and have had a hugely positive impact on our community. It’s essential in real estate to look at things differently, so to be on [a] project that’s creating solutions to address the affordability crisis, is extremely rewarding.”
The Bridge Housing Trust is currently taking registrations for those interested in applying for the secured homeownership option.
