Converted containers for transitional housing plan

A Dunedin woman familiar with hardship is on track with her plans to create cheap transitional housing in the city.

Cyndee Elder, who lives in Green Island with her 11-year-old daughter, has been turning her life around.

As part of this, this she has a business plan to buy a plot of land for an 8-unit hub, which she expects to be low maintenance and low cost for people who need transitional housing.

Ms Elder said she will graduate with an Otago Polytechnic business certificate at the end of the year.

Funding was difficult to get, so she planned to initially create some units and sell them for capital to purchase the land.

She would buy the units as shells and have them made into liveable spaces with amenities.

Such units usually sold for $120,000, but Ms Elder believed she could sell them for much less.

"We’ve done the marketing strategy for it. I get my first unit in March."

There was plenty of demand for cheap, small, warm and safe social housing, she said.

"This is not a joke and it’s not getting better. We need to bring simple back in order to fix this problem."

She had a team working on it, but had to work with their schedules.

The 6.5m x 5.2m units would be made from shipping containers. They would have amenities and small back yards. She envisioned a ‘‘support person'' or social worker being available at the premise.

Residents would likely pay the low rent of the units through their government financial assistance.

jono.edwards@odt.co.nz