Tauranga City Council has granted consent for a transitional housing development in Opal Drive, Papamoa, which will see about 80 families housed every year.

Tauranga now has 41 transitional housing places available for local families with a further 19 due to open by December, says Associate Minister for Social Housing Alfred Ngaro.

Site works at the Opal Drive site will begin in early September, with the first homes likely to arrive on site in late September and the full site up and running by December.

Changes to the original plans, such as shifting two driveways from Doncaster Drive to Opal Drive, have been made in response to community feedback.

'We've worked really hard to bring our innovative transitional housing model to Tauranga so l'm pleased to see these plans come to fruition and local families receiving the help they need,” says Alfred.

The homes are expected to be used by families and children who live in the area already and seek temporary accommodation.

They will be managed by an on-site provider, who will look after the properties and also provide support to the people living there.

Families are required to be assessed by the Ministry of Social Development and the provider for suitability to determine their fit within the neighbourhood.

'These will be families who have found themselves without somewhere secure and stable to live. They may have been in an overcrowded living situation, or unable to find somewhere affordable to live.

'The Ministry of Social Development will be partnering with the Tauranga Community Housing Trust to help provide support for families living in the homes.”

Families will stay in the houses for an average of 12 weeks or longer if required, while they are helped to secure housing that is more permanent and continue to receive support for a further three months.

'Providers like TCHT, Te Tuinga Whanau and The Salvation Army are providing locals with both housing support and also tailored help to address other challenges our families face - from budgeting and parenting advice to cooking lessons and cultural and community connections,” says Alfred.

Previously concerns over the proposed development include who would be living in the transitional housing, for how long, and the impact on local schools and the neighbourhood.

Tauranga City Councillor Leanne Brown says the Ministry of Social Development has been working to ease these concerns.

'When the project was initially announced there was a lot of resistance and there was a lot of unanswered questions but this time there's been a lot more work done to try and put some of those concerns to rest.”

'They've done a letter drop to 360 houses around the area they've contact all the people that come to the open day that we had a few months ago – they're a lot more prepared,” says Leanne.

'People have got information they know who to talk to, they know where to go.

"Initially there were concerns that there was going to be undesirable people living in there – there's absolutely not, it's going to be families that have got an absolute need for housing.”

'There's going to be onsite management at all times, all visitors will need to be given permission they will need to be registered.”

She says the development will provide necessary housing for locals.

'Everyone has the right to housing opportunities and as a council we have to take care of our community.”

'There will still be people that are unhappy about it particularly those who are perhaps selling and feel that it may have an impact on their houses, but there's no evidence to support that at this stage.”