Wellington Housing Trust (WHT) and Dwell - History

Dwell Housing Trust has been providing quality affordable homes to people in need for over 40 years. A pioneer of community housing provision, Dwell is now part of a network of community housing providers helping those whose needs are not being met by state housing and who struggle with high market rents.

In the face of the current housing crisis, Dwell’s work has never been more necessary. Dwell’s story, a story made up of many stories, is ongoing but for now we reflect and consider our rich 40 year history. Dwell commisioned James Brown to write this history and Tenants, tenacity, troubles and triumph is now available online.

Previous history books, celebrating 25 and 30 years can be found on the publications page.

Founders and past board chairs

The founders and first board of trustees for Mt Victoria Housing Trust which quickly became Wellington Housing Trust (WHT) were, Mike Smith, Mike Butler, Richard Bird, Christine Perkins, Judith Miller (first chair).

They recognised an unmet need for more affordable housing initially in Mt Victoria but soon expanded their focus to the wider Wellington area. The group was aware they were charting new territory in proposing the formation of a housing trust. While such bodies had long been a part of the British housing landscape, there was no similar tradition in New Zealand.

The Trust aimed to:

  • provide low cost long-term rental housing for those on lower incomes

  • promote the renovation and rentention of housing in Central Wellington

  • monitor and comment on, both local and national housing policy

  • involce tenants and Trust in co-operative decision making.

Their original vision lives on at Dwell today, our current strategic goals are:

  • More Homes

  • Great Services

  • Strong Voice

  • Organisational Wellbeing.

First Chair - Judith Miller - 1981-1986

Judith Miller was one of the founders of the Wellington Housing Trust and its first chair. In the early 1980s, she and others in the Mt Victoria Presbyterian Church became worried that gentrification was pushing people out of Mt Victoria. 'We wanted to retain choice and affordable rental accommodation in the inner city.' This objective led them and others in the Mt Victoria community to establish the Trust.

The main problem facing the Trust in the early years was how to get money and houses; ‘wishful thinking’ was not enough. ‘It was such a struggle’, she recalls.

While her role as chairperson of the Trust meant she had to take on a lot of responsibility – which was sometimes stressful – this was compensated for by the elation she felt every time the Trust did a deal to get money or bought a house.

She resigned as a trustee in 1993.

Other previous chairs

Doris Johnston - 1986-1987 and 1993-1997

Derek Sole - 1987-1990

Rod Macdiarmid - 1990-1993

Lizzie Quinn - 1997-2003

Peter Jones - 2003-2011

Paul Scholey - 2011-2017

Head to Our People to find out about our current chair, board and team.

Growth of WHT and Dwell – From 1 to 100 tenancies

We’ve come a long way since our origins as WHT in 1981, from one tenancy to 100 and many more in the pipeline.

This infographic charts our growth from 1 to 100 tenancies, with the green houses representing growth. During the mid to late 90's and early 2000's WHT sold some of their Mt Victoria homes, recongfiguring their portfolio moving away from older homes and towards modern, lower maintenance properties.

In 2013 we saw a significant increase in tenancies when Dwell was created. Dwell became operational in 2013 following the merger of Wellington Housing Trust (WHT) and Mahora House Incorporated (MHI). The joining of these two organisations created a uniquely experienced and capable organisation committed to the greater Wellington region.

5 Stoke - Then and Now

5 Stoke Street is the property we have owned the longest - for 33 years. It is also the site (along with 7 Stoke Street) of our first development which took place in 2009. The two houses (pictured below), each had two flats and both properties provided homes for up to 16 people. The development created six new townhouse homes ranging from two to four bedrooms and now provides homes for up to 36 people. Head to the Stoke Street Development page for more information on the project.

WHT and Dwell as a developer of homes in the Wellington region

Since 2007, firstly WHT and then Dwell have a proven track record of developing homes and have completed four developments during that time. Dwell has also partnered with others on another project to add more homes to the Wellington region.

Read more at our Property Development page.