Affordable housing will help shape the development of a new town at Papamoa expected to be home to at least 7300 people.
Developers and landowners met with the Tauranga City Council yesterday to discuss big picture planning for the largely undeveloped block called Wairakei. The confidential meeting, involving some of the biggest names in the city's development industry, was to achieve a collaborative approach to infrastructure. Development of the first subdivision out of the blocks, Golden Sands, was rocketing ahead with only 14 of the 556 sections left to sell. It included large numbers of homes that met the $350,000 to $450,000 house price limits for the Government's promised HomeStart grant which will double support for low and middle income couples building their first home.
Mayor Stuart Crosby said the timing of development was critical so that no one was left without services.
He said the council was still assessing which parcels of land around Tauranga would be selected as special housing areas. The city's housing affordability issue may see the council decide to allow more homes to be built at Wairakei sooner rather than later.
The good news was that developers were already building affordable homes, with more planned as part of future housing mixes, he said.
