Housing developer: I want to help the community

Rotorua's housing crisis became real for Ngongotaha's Selina Rika when relatives came to live with her because they couldn't afford a house.

"This is a two-income family on good money but they couldn't find anywhere to live. Then I started thinking about all my whanau and realised most were living two to three families per home. That's when I knew I had to do something to help."

Rika is the developer behind a proposed special housing lot on Hamurana Rd, which is yet to be given the green light.

She attended a community-led meeting in Ngongotaha on Thursday night to hear the concerns of locals about her proposed development, which is yet to be approved by the Rotorua Lakes Council, and the 190-lot Ngongotaha Rd development which has been approved to be put forward to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development.

She wants her land to be subdivided into 120 lots, with an average size of 450sq m.

Developer and Ngongotaha resident Selina Rika wants to help the community by building affordable homes. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

"I am a local, I grew up here and have been a rural resident for a number of years. I live 500m from the property I am trying to develop.

"I understand the community's concerns around infrastructure, environment and village character and I share those concerns. I want to create something that is going to work for the community that I am a part of.

"I am seeing this issue through two lenses - that of a developer and that of a local."

Rika said her focus was creating affordable homes targeting first-home buyers and pensioners.

Selina Rika wants her land to be subdivided into 120 lots, with an average size of 450sq m.

"I am not focused on making a buck. The reason I want to do this through the Special Housing Accord is so we can get more houses now. That is what we need.

"I have been looking for land to develop in Rotorua for two years but the land available in the city is too expensive so would mean it could not feasibly be used for affordable housing.

"The land I have in Hamurana is. The housing I want to put on it has been based on whether I would live in it, would I want my family to live in it and would I want to be in that community.

"I love Ngongotaha, it's my home and I want to know that the people I love are able to stay here and afford to live."