Waikato Housing Initiative’s new chief executive brings valuable experience to role

Aksel Bech is now chief executive of the Waikato Housing Initiative.

Former Waikato District councillor and deputy mayor Aksel Bech has taken up a new job as chief executive of the Waikato Housing Initiative.

Bech recently completed two terms as a Waikato District councillor and was deputy mayor from 2019 to 2022. At last year’s local government elections, he stood only for the Waikato District mayoralty but was unsuccessful, being placed second to new Mayor Jacqui Church.

“Aksel has already had oversight of Waikato Housing Initiative’s activities through his role on the Waikato Plan for the past six years. That means he can hit the ground running at a time when the demands on our organisation are picking up. We’ll benefit greatly from being able to tap into his experience at this crucial time,” says Waikato Housing Initiative co-chairman Tofa Namulauulu Lale Ieremia.

The WHI is a working group that includes representatives from across the housing spectrum. It is working toward a vision of: “Every person and every family in the Waikato region is well-housed, living in sustainable, flourishing and connected communities.”

In 2018, WHI completed a regional stocktake which established one source of truth for Waikato’s housing shortfall. This stocktake is used extensively by regional authorities to enable discussions around boundary-less planning for optimal housing solutions.

Nic Greene, Waikato Housing Initiative’s other co-chairman, says: “We are working together to change the current status quo of housing across the Waikato by leading, connecting and facilitating the delivery of affordable, quality and accessible homes in our region. It’s the right time for the Waikato Housing Initiative to appoint a CEO who can lead the strategic partners and working group. We welcome Aksel onboard to take up that challenge.”

Bech says he looks forward to working across the region and sectors to create positive housing impacts.

“I am very conscious of the lack of affordable housing across our region and the effects felt by far too many people in our regional community. The work of the Waikato Housing Initiative is crucial. It looks to provide focused, local leadership and align local solutions that work for the Waikato people.

“I am honoured and humbled to be given this opportunity of leadership for the Waikato Housing Initiative and look forward to making a positive impact.”

Over the past five years, the Waikato Housing Initiative has worked with local authorities and developers to promote integrated, affordable housing as part of master-planned communities. This has included developing a ‘scorecard’ housing providers and developers use to assess their housing projects to more closely match the region’s vision and goals for housing outcomes.