Nine years ago, when the government of the day decided to knock down over 70 state houses in the Ruahine Street area and sell the land to a developer, a group of people from local churches decided to form a trust and lease properties from landlords to sublet to homeless people. The Upper Hutt Housing Charitable Trust was formed.

It took six months to find our first landlord who was prepared to lease their property to the Trust to sublet to someone who was homeless. The Trust proved to be a good tenant and cared for the properties and always paid the rent. The word spread around and soon landlords were approaching the Trust to lease their properties.

Today the Trust leases two boarding houses with another arranged to begin occupying in the first half of 2026, giving a total of 55 rooms for single accommodation plus thirty-five, 1–5-bedroom houses. Around 130 people will be sleeping in an Upper Hutt Housing Charitable Trust bed tonight. Some of the properties are long term leases, others short term and the staff help the residents to find secure accommodation in the area.

Some tenants come to us with heightened anxiety as they have been shattered by the experience of being homeless or being raised in an abusive home and need help to fill in forms, go to appointments, apply for assistance for them or their children. Would you have a couple of hours a week to volunteer to help someone to negotiate these type of events?

The Trust also needs a couple more trustees to join the Trust Board. Do you have any experience in the governance of an organisation? A person with law qualifications or marketing/communication skills would be particularly welcome but we will welcome enquiries from others too.

For more information on volunteering to work with the tenants contact Ron Edmonds at help@uhht.org.nz

For more information on becoming a board member contact Teresa on 022 312 7259 or Judy on 022 043 4703

A “thank you” to Judy Dixon for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.

12/12/25