Who we are
ŌCHT chief executive Cate Kearney and ŌCHT commercial and development manager Ed Leeson check progress at the Trust’s Brougham St development in late 2020.
We provide community housing to those most in need.
We were formed in 2016, out of the Christchurch City Council’s wish for a financially sustainable model for its social housing portfolio. It passed the management of about 2300 units to the Trust, capitalising us with $50 million in land and social housing.
Over time, the portfolio will be redeveloped into warmer, drier more efficient housing.
Our objective is to deliver a tenant-centric service and a financially sustainable portfolio. In doing so, we want to improve and grow community housing in Christchurch.
We are a Charitable Trust, so our surpluses are reinvested into community housing.
We lease the Council’s social housing portfolio but we also own and manage our own.
We provide tenancy management services, and undertake minor property maintenance and major maintenance and refurbishment work across all homes we manage. We maintain the properties we lease from the council as a contractor to the council.
ŌCHT has a five- year commercial lease agreement with the Council with five, five-year right of renewals, totaling 30 years.
What we do
- Provide community rental housing.
- Link tenants to services that’ll help enhance lives and, ultimately, sustain tenancies.
- Manage a property portfolio – ours and the Christchurch City Council’s.
- We have tenancies in the Christchurch region – from Belfast in the north to Templeton in the south, and in Banks Peninsula.
- We build new community homes. We want to improve social housing in our community.
Our purpose
ŌCHT team members at the 2020 World Homelessness Awareness Day in the Square.
- To provide a tenant-centric service, actively working with tenants to sustain their tenancies.
- To provide tenancy management services that meet the needs of our tenants and link them to other social services as required.
- To empower tenants to help shape ŌCHT’s services through our Tenant Advisory Group.
- To foster communities in which tenants actively participate.
- To continue as a registered Community Housing Provider, to have a collaborative relationship with the Community Housing Regulatory Authority and to underpin both by operating with integrity, transparency and in accordance with all performance standards.
- To be financially sustainable and fiscally prudent.
- To provide quality minor maintenance services, taking into consideration social enterprise opportunities and innovative solutions that are cost efficient and increase tenant satisfaction.
- To grow Christchurch’s social housing stock and, to build at least 400 units to replace those lost due to the Christchurch earthquakes.
- To seek opportunities for growth through central government procurement processes, such as new capacity and supply contracts.
Our services
ŌCHT is a registered Community Housing Provider (CHP) committed to delivering better and continuously-improving tenant outcomes. The team collectively has 145 years of social housing experience, making ŌCHT a highly experienced and expert local provider of social housing solutions.
What’s a community housing provider?
There’s a bit to it. Find out more here.
Our vision
Providing affordable homes and building sustainable communities where people love to live.
Our values
Manaakitanga: Duty of Care
- Honesty, integrity and empathy: We act with sincerity and empathy. We do what is right, not what is easy.
- Respect: By what we say and do, we show people that they and their wellbeing are important to us.
Puataata: Transparency
- It is what we do and not do, for which we are at all times prudent and accountable in our actions and in our fiscal management.
Nga whakanui: Celebration
- We recognise and celebrate the efforts and achievements of the people we help, and those of volunteers, supporters and employees.
Toitu te whenua: Environmental sustainability
- We operate in a way that meets our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Respect and honesty
Our team is here to help at every point. We will always be professional, polite, and responsive. We’ll always do our best to:
- Return calls as soon as possible within our regular office hours.
- Process out-of-hours calls to be followed up on the next day.
- Respond to maintenance issues in a timely way.
Looking to the future
ŌCHT is working with the Government and the Council to grow social housing in Christchurch. We are developing new properties and have plans for more – watch this space!
We are also part of Housing First, a multi-agency group tackling homelessness in Christchurch.
ŌCHT chief executive Cate Kearney (second from right) with Christchurch MPs Poto Williams (left), Ruth Dyson and Duncan Webb at OCHT’s first development, Louisson Place, in Opawa, in 2019.