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27 July 2001 |
The opening of a Community and Housing Information Centre in Aranui represents the next step in a unique partnership in community renewal.
The centre will open at 34 Marlow Road, Aranui, on Friday 3 August at 11am.
This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Christchurch City Council and Housing NZ in September last year. The signing came after discussions between the City Council and Housing NZ following a visit to the city by the Housing Minister, Mark Gosche.
Since then, the community has been taken in as the third member of the partnership and the focus of its work is now on community renewal.
Its strategy aims to "enhance Aranui as a good place to live" by:
- Improving the physical environment, including housing, streets, parks and other amenities.
- Improving social opportunities and the social environment, including enhancing community pride and capacity, strengthening connections among individuals, business and community groups, and encouraging better services in and to the area.
- Improving economic opportunities, including the improvement of employment and work experience opportunities.
In June the Minister of Housing, Mark Gosche, said the community renewal project was attracting widespread support and was the first of several such projects envisaged for communities where there was a high number of Housing NZ properties.
"Community renewal is aimed at empowering communities," Mr. Gosche said. "The project focuses not only on improving the community’s housing needs but also on employment, training and social services needs," he said.
The community information centre has been converted from a Housing NZ property and the City Council has employed a Community Consultation Co-ordinator who is based at the centre, along with Housing NZ tenancy managers.
The Department of Work and Income is also investigating using the centre as a base.
Mr. Gosche said Housing NZ wanted to built meaningful partnerships with local communities to make them more vibrant, vigorous and viable.
The local Member of Parliament, Lianne Dalziel, and the Chief Executive of Housing NZ, Michael Lennon, will be among the speakers at the opening of the centre.
Others will the chairwoman of the City Council’s Community Services Committee and member of the Housing Working Party, Cr. Carole Anderton, and Maud Boyd, who will represent the community.
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