Community news and notices

Healthy Homes Standards

Changes to the Healthy Homes Standards are coming into effect in the coming months. Here’s what you need to know.

From 1st December 2020 landlords must include a compliance statement with new or renewed tenancies which outlines how the property complies with the Healthy Homes Standards.

The healthy homes standards aim to make a significant change to the quality of New Zealand rental homes. The standards cover improvements to heating, insulation, and ventilation, and addressing issues with moisture ingress and drainage and draught stopping.

Click here to view some of the changes. 

Thanks to Community Housing Aotearoa.

Otago Community Trust - Year in Review

The Otago Community Trust presented an overview of its financial year results at its Annual Public Meeting in late October.  

Please see attachment at the end of this section for the annual report.

New interdenominational prayer room at Dunedin’s City Library

A new interdenominational prayer room at Dunedin’s City Library is expected to provide a quiet space for visitors to quietly pray, meditate or worship.

Work on the construction of the new space is scheduled to begin on Monday (16 November) and take about a week.

It will involve partitioning some of the current public reading room on the first floor of the City Library to create one interdenominational space and a second space for members of the Muslim community.

The space for the Muslim community will in turn be able to be divided by a curtain into male and female spaces, and each will be able to accommodate about five or six people comfortably, DCC Library Services Manager Bernie Hawke says.

The concept has been developed in consultation with the Dunedin Interfaith Council, representing a variety of faiths and religious groups in Dunedin, as well as the University of Otago’s Chaplain and representatives of the Dunedin Muslim community.

All were extremely supportive of the City Library plan, he says.

The prayer room is expected to cost about $15,000 to develop and be available for use before the end of the year.

Wilding Pine Christmas Trees

Moana House have trees for sale from 4pm Thursday 3 December.  Sales daily thereafter from 9am - 9pm.

For more information please see the attachment at the end of this section.

Hapori Māori Innovation and Development Fund

Haere mai! The Hapori Māori Innovation and Development Fund is now open - Māori groups and organisations working in Ōtepoti Dunedin to support wellbeing can apply for funding of up to $10,000.

The fund, provided by the DCC and Otago Community Trust, closes on Friday 4 December. Find out more and apply: www.dunedin.govt.nz/hapori-maori-fund-2020.

You can also contact our DCC Community Advisors on 477 4000 or the Otago Community Trust on 479 0994

Pāsifika Communities Innovation and Development Fund

Warm Pacific greetings! The Pāsifika Communities Innovation and Development Fund is now open - Pāsifika groups working in Ōtepoti Dunedin to support wellbeing can apply for funding of up to $10,000.

The fund, provided by the DCC and Otago Community Trust, closes on Friday 4 December. Find out more and apply: www.dunedin.govt.nz/pasifika-fund-2020.

You can also contact our DCC Community Advisors on 477 4000 or the Otago Community Trust on 479 0994

Volunteer South Ensures Readiness for Spontaneous Emergency Volunteering

Please find attached at the end of this section Volunteer South's press release about their new capability for Emergency and Spontaneous volunteering that has been specifically designed to fill the gap of spontaneous volunteer management in emergencies.

Connected.govt.nz - All-of-Government website

connected.govt.nzis an all-of-government website that allows employers, job seekers and people seeking information about training to find out more about what’s available and provides links to agency websites for more detailed information.

The website links to a vast range of government services for job seekers, employers and people looking to train or retrain, including:

• Further education and training options, including apprenticeship support

• Job vacancies from a wide range of sectors and targeted campaigns

• Careers advice and advice on how to get a job

• Advice on starting up a new business

• Wage subsidies and other COVID-19 economic and business support measures

• Government funded programmes

Agencies are working together to make sure the website has up-to-date links and information about the services you might need.

The Connected website is supported by a Connected phone line (0800 264 737) and physical Connected locations operating in 35 of MSD’s employment-focused sites around the country and the three Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Jobs and Skills Hubs.

Through Connected, we will be able to better support people to navigate the range of services available in the regions where they live and work, and to increase connection across agencies so that employers, job seekers and people looking to train or retrain know how and where to access the services available and where they can go for support.

You are encouraged to use the Connected website as a starting point for finding out about the employment, education and training services available.

Funding available to support Community Organisations

Funding opportunities have been collated by the DCC to support Community Organisations searching for funding. While the DCC doesn’t administer any of these opportunities, the community advisors are available to support you if you have any queries. They will make every effort to ensure it is completed as much as possible. Please visit the websites for the up-to-date information about each of the opportunities.