CEO LETTER FYE 30 JUNE 2025
Mr Conrad LaPointe
The past year has seen the largest growth of our services since we began as a charity in 1994. Consequently, our work has positively impacted more people than ever and fundamentally helped change many people’s lives; some for generations. It is built on the passion of people who are willing to give so much of themselves in service. It is enabled by those we seek to serve that welcome us into their lives.
We are proud to be part of a wider sector of organisations and people who are striving to address this need. Those who constantly advocate for more support, who invite us to partner and trust in our kaupapa, and who put people at the centre of their work and their hearts. Over this year we have taken many pauses to celebrate those internally and externally who have contributed to increased and greater outcomes. Yet we must acknowledge that these milestones and successes are reached as a response to the increasing need.
The opening of Warren Place this year, our largest affordable housing development to date, stands as a demonstration to what can be accomplished when people with a common aim come together. This development winning the NZ Property Council Award for Community and Affordable Housing, also recognises our commitment to the highest quality of housing and design attainable. This sets a new benchmark for future housing developments. This year, we built 36 homes, and created significant momentum for continued new housing supply, with a further 91 homes pipelined through the next financial year.
While new housing supply often dominates political headlines, we remain equally committed to growing our housing adequacy services. A continued delivery and political focus on the quality of existing housing stock and the health and well-being of whānau within them is imperative. Many New Zealanders face the confronting reality of living in substandard rentals, forced to choose between turning on the heater or buying shoes for their child.
In response, our Home Repair and Healthy Homes programmes have reached more whānau than ever before, delivering tens of thousands of interventions that make homes warmer, safer, and healthier. These repairs are more than just physical improvements, they have deep impact in support of the dignity, security, affordability and wellbeing of families who face hardship. The stories in this report of Adam, Geppina, Thomas, and Sulia show us that behind every statistic is a family whose life has been positively impacted.
Volunteers remain the heartbeat of Habitat, particularly within our ReStore op shops. These outlets are the engine room of our organisation, providing the income foundation to our work and fulfilling the role as our major public face. We acknowledge the tireless and challenging work of our ReStore staff and volunteers, and the thousands of donors who trust us to turn their preloved items into impactful housing outcomes. Volunteer numbers have grown this year, and we trust we can continue attracting these incredible people who remain the foundation of our work and show us what it truly means to serve
The funding environment for our work continues to present real challenges. While most of our housing adequacy related contracts have remained this year, funding for our Home Ownership Programme ended, and a severe cut in public housing funding for Tai Tokerau could curtail a momentum and ultimately limit our capacity to affect the growing need. As we wrestle with this reality, we remain dedicated to the quality of our delivery, committed to finding a continued balance between considered and lasting interventions and efficient systems of delivery and funding disbursement.
How we address challenges of funding and scale will define the coming year and beyond. The Board has been clear in its directive for a transformation of our services. This will occur at many levels throughout Habitat, with a focus of continually improving how we deliver our services and increasing surplus from commercial activities. We cannot nor should not rely so heavily, as we arguably have done in the past, on government funding. Conversely, we must ensure that our delivery model is attractive to government, bringing our own increased capital to better leverage philanthropic, impact investment and Crown funding.
What underpins the work highlighted in this report is always our people. Our staff, our volunteers, and the hundreds of others from organisations we deliver alongside and share common goals. The environment that we collectively create and nurture internally and then take out to the wider community is what will always define us and bind us.
It is clear from the scale of work defined in this report and the stories that bring it to life that our Christian mission and values continue to endure and drive us. I sincerely thank all those who are part of our kaupapa, who bring yourselves, your purpose and your drive to continually striving for a world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Ngā mihi nui,
Conrad La Pointe
