Trust House plans $1.2m building project

Trust House chief executive Allan Pollard. PHOTO/FILE

Wairarapa's biggest landlord is about to embark on a $1.2 million project to build more community housing.

Trust House has announced plans to begin building as many as eight new Masterton homes, costing a total of between $1 million to $1.2 million, in the next three to four months.

Chief executive Allan Pollard said the trust was still researching the potential location of the new houses, which was expected to be confirmed in the next two or three weeks.

"It's an area of opportunity that we are exploring currently."

The trust would be looking to "regenerate" its own land by removing a large vacant house from a section and building between six to eight smaller one to two-bedroom houses.

"We are looking at what we need in the community and what we need are one and two bedrooms," Mr Pollard said.

"There's a real lack of one to two-bedrooms, so we are considering some areas where we can build some one to two-bedroom homes."

There was a lack of suitable accommodation for single people, or people with perhaps one child, who would currently have to rent a three-bedroom home, he said.

The new homes would have all the "bells and whistles" they would need for the future, with double glazing, insulation and heat pumps.

The cost of the build is expected to be funded through existing cash flow, Mr Pollard said.

"We've had a really good year, last year, so a regeneration project we could do through current cash flow and not by borrowing money."

The profit made from the new houses would benefit the wider community, he said. "If we make more income, it's more to give back to the community."

Trust House owns and manages about 480 houses in Wairarapa, including about 350 in Masterton.