With home ownership slipping further out of reach for many, Bridge Housing Trust has stepped up as a de facto Bank of Mum and Dad.
The housing charity is in its early years but delivered 40 affordable homes last year and wants to double that in 2025. “There’s a growing divide between those who own homes and those who don’t,” Simon Perry, director of Brian Perry Charitable Trust says.
“And without the Bank of Mum and Dad, there’s little chance for young families to get on the property ladder. That’s what we’re trying to be, a de facto Bank of Mum and Dad.”
Perry’s realisation of the severity of the housing crisis came after reading The Great Divide, an article published in North & South Magazine, which highlighted the stark generational shift in home ownership. The wake-up call spurred the creation of Bridge Housing Trust three years ago.
The trust, chaired by Perry, is donating the 1800m² land, valued at $4 million, and investing another $16m to build a complex of 42 affordable apartments, Hinemoa, in Hamilton’s CBD. One-bedroom units will be priced just over $500,000, while two-bedroom units will be in the low $600,000 range.
The project received a $6 million loan from Westpac bank and another $10m from the Hamilton City Council, after it was unexpectedly turned down for funds by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development last year. “We’re prioritising hardworking Kiwis, teachers, nurses, first-home families who are renting in the city and struggling to buy,” Perry said.
Nine apartments will be rentals managed by Habitat for Humanity, while the remaining 33 will be available for purchase through an affordable freehold or shared-equity model.
Demolition work has begun on the former Brian Perry headquarters at the corner of Tristram and Liverpool Streets, and the three-storey apartment building is expected to be ready this time next year.
This project was part of a larger effort to address the city’s growing housing shortage, particularly for those who earn too much to qualify for social housing but not enough to enter the traditional property market. Over half of Hamilton families rent now, and most can’t afford to buy, Perry said. “When I was a kid, 75% of families owned their own home, and that’s dropped to 50%, and probably it’ll be 25% for the next generation.
“We don’t think that’s good for communities or for the country as a whole to have some families owning homes and others not owning homes. Particularly if families want to be able to own a home, they should be able to if they’re on a living wage.”
“These are not unemployed people, they’re good, hardworking families.” Perry said the increasing cost of construction and land were the biggest challenges of housing affordability. “New Zealand is not a cheap place to build.
“For most developers, it’s hard to make a project stack up. But because we’ve removed the profit margin and donated the land, we can make it work.”
Families with a household income between $100,000 and $130,000 can buy these apartments, and those who don’t have a 20% deposit can make use of the trust’s shared equity model. “With this programme, they can come in with a smaller deposit, and we leave the rest in. It means they can secure a lower mortgage rate,” Perry explained. In addition to the 42 apartments in Hamilton, the trust is planing to build another 40 homes this year across Horotiu and Cambridge.
Perry was also working closely with local councils to unlock underutilised land for future developments.“We’re building a pipeline of projects so we can keep scaling up.”
Perry hoped other trusts, councils and individuals would get behind the initiative and can contribute land or financial support. The impact of home ownership extended far beyond financial benefits, Perry said. “It affects families in so many ways – health outcomes, education, community stability.”
Article extracted from the Waikato Times, published 20 March 2025