Joint venture finishes first 15 apartments in West Harbour

The homes will be rented to people eligible for state housing and on very low incomes

Joint venture finishes first 15 apartments in West Harbour

A $61 million joint venture by Community of Refuge Trust (Cort) and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has completed the first 15 apartments of a 104-unit Auckland housing development scheme.

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The project was built by D3 developments in a three-level block on a sloping site at 115 Oriel Ave in West Harbour on the city's northwest outskirts. It’s the first of the seven sites to have homes completed.

Stephen Hart, Cort chief executive, said the 12 one-bedroom and three two-bedroom apartments will be rented to people eligible for state housing and on very low incomes, NZ Herald reported.

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Four more sites in Massey, Henderson, Sunnyvale, and Takanini were at either the construction or earthworks stage, while two Mt Roskill sites are at the stage of consenting, Hart said.

The homes built by the partnership will be used by Cort to deliver public housing to tenants under a 25-year contract with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Hart said.

“This partnership is a great example of ACC's investment fund achieving social impact while also delivering a sound financial return for the scheme for the benefit of all New Zealanders,” Ian Purdy, ACC property and infrastructure portfolio manager, told NZ Herald.

As of June, the Ministry of Social Development’s housing register showed 26,664 applicants waiting to be matched to a suitable property – that’s up 8.9% from last June.

The joint venture, formed in 2020, saw the creation of a new company, with each entity owning half of the shares. The company will build the developments and Cort will lease the properties and take responsibility for the houses and tenants.

ACC originally committed $50 million to the scheme but increased that investment to $61 million, with Cort overseeing development and management, NZ Herald reported.