One of the largest collaborative funding efforts in our region’s history

Funding partners TECT, BayTrust, Rotorua Trust, Bay of Plenty District Health Board, Toi Te Ora Public Health, and Western Bay of Plenty District Council, have committed over $1.5M to the first three years of 20 Degrees.

While the funders have pumped millions into home insulation across the Bay for a number of years, they were mindful that this was only one aspect of the solution and wanted to do more to address all areas that contributed to a healthy home. They also recognised that a collaborative funding approach was necessary to address the scale of intervention needed.

The project has taken a number of years to come to fruition, with initial discussions starting back in 2017 at a Healthy Housing Workshop attended by 31 agencies. The workshop generated ideas for how to improve the housing conditions in the Bay of Plenty region.

While the vision is just starting its journey, it is hoped that over the years, with increasing collaboration and funding partners, it will grow to address in greater numbers the widescale poor housing issue.

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Rotorua Trust

With a history founded on energy solutions, the Rotorua Trust has supported the warming of Rotorua households for many years. While funding used to focus on insulating as many needy households as possible, the Sustainability Options model has taken this to another, more impactful, level.

Ensuring households achieve a minimum 20-degree temperature in winter, often through multiple engagements, means that every dollar invested with Sustainability Options helps deliver ongoing health and wellness benefits for our Rotorua whanau.

We respect and support the Sustainability Options kaupapa and acknowledge the hands-on role they play in helping deliver a better Rotorua for all.

Tony Gill - Trust Manager

Trust Horizon

Trust Horizon saw the project’s success in Rotorua and Tauranga, and approached Sustainability Options with the idea to extend it with energy monitoring and apply for Government funding. The approach takes some of the company’s other fantastic work in community energy education, and delivers it here in the Eastern Bay.

Warm and dry homes are fundamental to better health and wellbeing outcomes for whanau. But while major insulation in the district is funded by the government and Trust Horizon, there’s unfortunately a lack of funding for minor issues – like broken windows – which can have a big impact on a home’s energy efficiency. The 20 Degrees project fills the gap in funding for those small repairs, with the goal of getting a home to the position where it can sustain 20 Degrees on a cold winter’s night.

Derek Caudwell - Trust Manager

Western Bay of Plenty District Council

We’re committed to a vision where every resident in the Western Bay is well housed – and that includes living in a warm, dry and healthy home. We know that a healthy home is the foundation for better overall wellbeing for our communities, and it’s what we have been working toward since 2014.

The value of working with our Twenty Degrees partners it that our communities get the most value from every dollar spent, and we can achieve even better outcomes when we work together.

Jodie Rickard - Senior Policy Analyst

TECT

Here at TECT, we work to support a thriving, caring, connected community through our funding. But a thriving community is not possible while so many people are living in homes that are cold and damp due to reasons out of their control. Older housing, minimum building standards, poor practices and materials along with deferred maintenance, should not be reasons people cannot live healthy, happy lives. For this reason we were keen to be part of a collaborative funding partnership that could have a significant impact on the health outcomes of our community.

We hope that over the next three years of the 20 Degrees programme’s rollout, we can see real change in our community and the groundwork being done by our partners Sustainability Options will attract other funding to further enhance programme outcomes. We are already hearing the stories of families and individuals health improving and lives changed, because these people now live in a healthy home. We look forward to hearing more of these stories as the incredible team at 20 Degrees work to make a real difference to our housing stock, but more importantly, people’s lives.

Laura Thomson-Bache - Marketing and Communications Manager

BOPDHB

The link between housing and health is well researched. Increasingly we are growing in our understanding of how healthy homes can positively impact personal health. Over the past 7 years, the BOPDHB has supported the Healthy Homes Initiative and its commitment to improving housing conditions for those whānau living in cold and damp homes. The Healthy Homes initiative has quickly highlighted that in order to improve the housing conditions and health impacts of our homes, we need to consider how to best maintain the home, improve the home and how best to live in the home. This is a major challenge that requires collaboration with many partners and a close partnership with each family. The 20 Degree programme is a significant initiative that will help us support better housing conditions for our whānau who are struggling with ongoing health concerns. As a funder of this initiative BOPDHB are aiming to reduce the number of avoidable hospital admissions and see improvements in general health, especially for those most vulnerable such as children and older people.

Sarah Stevenson - Portfolio Manager (Population and Women's Health)

BayTrust

20 Degrees is a collaborative healthy housing programme, working to ensure homes in the Bay of Plenty can be heated to and sustain an internal temperature of 20°C. We know that when whanau with children get to live in warm and dry homes, it results in fewer medicines dispensed, fewer GP visits and fewer admissions to hospital for children referred. We also know that when we work together, we can make a larger collective impact that we could if we tried to do it alone. This is why we support the programme.

The benefits of a warm, dry home can not only be seen in health, but also in employment, educational achievement and overall well-being. We’re delighted that sustainability options are the provider, as they not only work on the homes, they also work with the people in them.

Sam Cummins - Community Funding and Policy Manager

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