Home Capital Partners

Yesterday I had the privilege of joining Hon. Megan Woods in a visit to the Home Foundations new office in Wigram, where we heard about all the fantastic mahi Israel Cooper, David Monk, James Stewart and the team are doing in bringing affordable housing to our communities across Aotearoa.

Productivity, which we need to grow our economy and create real wealth, is a factor of capital and labour. A large portion of New Zealand’s total capital (approx 60%) is channeled to houses, which we sell amongst ourselves for higher and higher amounts, because we are incetivised to do so. This capital cost is then extracted from household budgets at increasing proportions through rents or mortgage payments. So ipso facto, this chart showing we have had one of the largest declines in productivity in the world should be no surprise. It’s kind of like the story of Emperor’s new clothes. We are all playing along pretending we are getting wealthier and wealthier by ratcheting up the price of our rotting, damp, and depreciating houses. All the while we are actually just getting poorer and poorer. Except of course those at the top of the Ponzi scheme, who can’t believe we haven’t noticed we are all running around naked. Meanwhile the rest of the economy, which is actually trying to produce the goods and services that generates real wealth is being starved of the capital it needs to do this more productively. And now as thousands of our best and brightest get on planes because they have woken up to the fact everyone is running around naked, our productive businesses are also being starved of the most productive labour. We need to wake up from our delusion soon. Otherwise when the music stops (and it will) we will suddenly realize the prosperous New Zealand we had all hoped for, was actually only available to those playing the music. We are naked New Zealand, and the joke is on us.

A massive ka pai to the Home NZ, Home Capital Partners, Home Foundation, and Kāinga Maha teams who participated in the Cholmondeley Children's Centre 24 hour Fit-for-a-Cause. Together they raised just over a third of the total. For nearly 100 years Cholmondeley has provided care and support to tamariki and their whānau under stress or in crisis. There are generations of tamariki who are living full and healthy lives as a directly result of the work of Cholmondeley. Less than 20% and declining of Cholmondeley’s total funding is provided by Governemnt, so the support of the community is what has and continues to sustain and enable its work. Ka pai to all the other organisations who generously supported through their mahi 2degrees, PwC New Zealand, Christchurch Casinos Limited, Les Mills New Zealand, Business Canterbury, Also to the incredible mahi of our many team members who for a straight 24 hours through sweat, sore muscles, aches and pains contributed so generously James Stewart, Paula Koller, Doug McNicholl, Michael Vermeulen, Kyle Morris, Joe Budd, Joohee(Julie) Han, Jessica Cooper, Rachel Jiang, Arash Rassoul, Mere Dimuri

We're pleased to share that Te Pākau Maru is taking shape with significant progress made in construction. Earthworks are well underway for Stage 2. A massive thank you to all of our team and build partners for your incredible mahi on this project.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if first home buyers could capitalise their accomodation supplement and use it as the deposit on a house ( a bit like returned soldiers could after WWII)… $80 per week equates to a potential $110,000 deposit (in net present terms (even higher at the Govt’s lower cost of capital)). A game changer to young families at no cost to the government. The current settings have the Govt (ie all of us) on the hook for a perpetual $2b expense every year. Imagine if this could build wealth and increase security for its recipients instead of just being a bandaid for an unaffordable housing system…

Nearly a decade ago we began the journey of finding a more permanent headquarters for the growing Home organisation. There were always others with more pressing needs, however, and particularly individuals and whānau that were desperately in need of a home. So finding a permanent base for the organisation took a backseat to the more important efforts in delivering healthy, affordable, and secure housing for the ever growing number of vulnerable in our communities. The growing disruption to our team caused by the multiple moves and cramped workspaces as we outgrew our various premises, and as the number of organizations involved in the work also grew, it became increasingly detrimental to the team and their work. Five years ago, however, as part of our partnership with Ngāi Tahu Property to unlock desperately needed affordable housing options in Canterbury, Ngāi Tahu Property graciously helped us secure a piece of land in their Kairua commercial development. Five years later, as result of the significant generosity and partnership of a large number of build partners and suppliers, together with the talent of our Home NZ carpentry team, we now have a secure hub from which to progress our work in housing. Named “Kia koa te Whenua”, by the Ven Dr Lyndon Drake of Ngāti Kuri, Ngāi Tūāhuriri, Ngāi Tahu. The name has been given from Psalm 96:11, which means “Let the earth rejoice”, signifying the joy of creation, and in particular the rejoicing of the earth for the good work that, by the grace of God, will be undertaken by all the tangata/people in this building. As the name suggests, this building will provide a beautiful workspace for an increasing number of charitable and commercial organisations working in the area of housing, including Kāinga Maha, Home NZ, Home Foundation, and Home Capital Partners. As well as a growing number of community based organizations that support community development, and work towards building strong whānau, homes, and neighbourhoods. Our hope is that over time we will see this building overflow with innovative work by a good many hands, that will help bring about the continued transformation of our communities and neighbourhoods, resulting in much rejoicing. There are too many to thank individually for making all this to happen. However special thanks to Rob Campbell and the team at Foley Group Ltd for helping to bring the vision to life. And our many many build partners and suppliers who generously supported this project, Ngā mihi nui! Thank you to the talented Dennis Radermacher for the images. Finally, if you are in Christchurch or find yourself in our beautiful city please drop in. We would love to show you some of our wonderful Home hospitality, and perhaps share an idea or two about how we can work towards building truly flourishing communities for all.