About us
About us - Overview
Housing New Zealand Corporation is a Crown agent that provides housing services for people in need. It is also the New Zealand Government's principal advisor on housing.
Mission:
Housing New Zealand provides access to decent homes, helping New Zealanders to manage their own circumstances and contribute to community life.
Purpose:
Our main role has traditionally been to provide good quality, affordable rental homes for people on low incomes or with special housing needs.
Rental housing is still a large part of what we do. We own or manage more than 66,000 properties nationwide, including about 1,500 homes for community groups providing residential services.
We also work in many ways to improve access to affordable homes for New Zealanders.
For example:
- home ownership loans and education for people on low to medium incomes
- support for councils and community groups wanting to increase their involvement in providing social housing
- research on New Zealand's housing market
- locally-based programmes to strengthen communities
- partnerships with Māori, iwi, local government and community organisations to address housing issues in their areas.
How we provide our services:
We operate from 43 offices around the country (neighbourhood units) and have national offices in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland. We are also represented at many Heartland Centres and Work and Income offices.
We provide a free phone line called Housing Assistance, on 0800 801 601.
The service is open day and night and complements services provided at neighbourhood units. You can call from a mobile phone. People with hearing impairments can fax free to 0800 201 202.
What we don't do:
Housing New Zealand is separate to the Department of Building and Housing, which takes a whole-of-sector approach to New Zealand's built environment. It is responsible for:
- administering building and housing sector legislation, including reviews of the Residential Tenancies and Unit Title Acts
- implementing the Building Act regulating the building and rental housing sectors
- delivering effective information, advice and dispute resolution services in relation to tenancy and weathertightness issues
- providing policy advice to the Government on the building and housing sectors.
Housing New Zealand does not provide emergency accommodation, but we can put you in touch with emergency housing providers in your area. Contact your local neighbourhood unit.
We do provide homes for emergency housing providers to use, such as Women's Refuge.
