Ōpōtiki District Council has recently sold a section on Bridge St to government housing agency Kāinga Ora.

The 4042sq m property at 54 Bridge St is to be developed into six two-bedroom homes this year.

The council made the decision on May 31 to enter negotiations with Kāinga Ora for the sale of the section.

The decision was made during the in-committee section of the ordinary council meeting, which is not open to the public.

Negotiations have recently been completed and no further details are available until the council resolves to release them to the public.

This new sale follows the previous sale of a 5600sq m land parcel at the corner of Wellington and Union streets to Kāinga Ora in August for $465,000.

At that time the council’s acting chief executive, Miles McConway, said the housing shortage was one of the biggest challenges facing the district and it was working with “a range of agencies in a range of ways to provide short, medium and long-term solutions”.

This previously Ōpōtiki District Council-owned empty section in Bridge St will soon have six new homes sited on it. Photo / Diane McCarthy

Kāinga Ora is working in partnership with Ōpōtiki College Trades Academy to build the six homes for the new site.

The homes are being built at the college by academy students.

Two of the homes currently under construction are expected to be relocated to the Bridge St site early this year and a further four homes will be built and transported to the site by the end of this year.

In a letter to residents in the neighbourhood, Kāinga Ora Bay of Plenty senior stakeholder relationship manager Lisa MacKinnon said the houses would “help meet the urgent need for more warm, dry and modern homes for whānau and tamariki in Ōpōtiki”.

“Kāinga Ora will match these houses to individuals and whānau on the Ministry of Social Development’s Housing Register with the highest priority for a home of that size and in that location,” MacKinnon said.

“Kāinga Ora work hard to ensure people are placed in homes that best meet their needs, to live well in their home and to thrive in their community.”