Salvation Army opens $28 million social housing development in Royal Oak, Auckland

Friday, 8 November 2019

The Salvation Army opens its doors to a new housing estate in Royal Oak.

Recovering drug and alcohol addict Nina Rule has spent the past five months on a social housing waiting list, but she now has a new home thanks to a $28 million Salvation Army development.

She is one of 59 new tenants at the charity's 52-unit social housing development in Auckland's Royal Oak.

'I think it's important for people like me that have come from addiction that there is help for us with our recoveries,' Rule said.

She said she spent four and a half months at the Salvation Army's Epsom Lodge and, after a short spell in transitional housing, was offered one of the new apartments.

* The 'hidden' homeless: Alarming child and youth homelessness in Auckland

* How NZ's social housing problem is expected to worsen before it gets better**

'Through my addiction I got myself into a lot of debt. And having bad credit has also made it difficult for me to find housing.'

New tenant Nina Rule is one of the new tenants at the new Salvation Army complex in Mt Albert.

She completed a rehabilitation programme for people with drug and alcohol addictions and said she now had her life back on track. Rule said having a place to call home was great.

'I've never been lucky enough to have a brand new home or apartment and because of my background it's been tough getting a home. I think it's important for people like me who've come from a long line of addictions and other struggles to know that there is hope and there are places like this available to help in our recoveries.'

She's now started her own business providing support for other addicts.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern takes a look at the new Salvation Army housing estate in Royal Oak.

Salvation Army national director of social housing Greg Foster said the Mt Albert Rd development included 52 apartments, with three two-bedroom and 47 one-bedroom homes.

'It's the biggest development we've ever done,' Foster said. 'And it's been four years in the making.'

He said some of the tenants had been on social housing waiting lists for up to five years.

Foster said while the Salvation Army had previous social housing projects, this was the first time they'd had a multi–storey development made to meet its specific requirements.

As well as individual homes, the development aimed to create a sense of community for residents, with a hall and lots of communal space.

The first tenants were expected to move in this month.

The Salvation Army has more than 700 referrals for the units – an indication of the huge demand for social housing in Auckland and the rest of the country. Foster said it was doing what it could to tackle the lack of affordable housing.

'Four years ago we were creating a lot of noise in the media about the housing crisis. To the credit of the Army, we decided to do something about it,' he said. 'The Salvation Army dug deep and made it happen.'

The project was funded by the Salvation Army, with a $4 million Government grant and loans.

And according to Foster, there are two similar developments in the works, with a 22-home project in Westgate expected to be completed in March, and work on another 46-unit development in Flatbush underway.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who attended the official opening of the complex, said while the Government still had a responsibility to provide housing for those in need, the Salvation Army's approach was unique.

'We should be working together because the [Salvation Army's] wrap around services go above and beyond what we can provide.'

Under the Government's Public Housing Plan 2018-2022 it is expected to provide a total of 6400 public housing placements by 2022. That includes both Housing New Zealand and social housing provided by Non-Government Organisations (NGOs).