Seven social homes for autistic adults have officially opened in Tauranga.

The purpose-built units provide specialist accommodation designed to support greater independence and reduce sensory challenges.

The Greerton development, delivered by Autisum New Zealand’s community housing provider Equity House in partnership with Horler Investments, officially opened on Tuesday, a media release said.

The project is among the 1500 new social homes funded through the Government’s Budget 2024 Housing programme.

The seven one-bedroom units incorporate dimmer switches, allowing residents to adjust lighting levels and neutral colour schemes to reduce sensory overload.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said the development demonstrated the importance of social housing designed for the needs of residents.

Developments such as the Greerton project also helped to address a mismatch in the social housing stock.

“More than half of the people on the housing register need a one-bedroom home, but only 15.8% of our social housing stock is one-bedroom.”

He said an estimated 159,000 New Zealanders were part of the autistic community and deserved access to housing that met their needs.

“Too often, we think about accessible housing only in terms of physical disabilities. That’s important, but autistic people can have different needs too.”

He said residents would receive pastoral care, including assistance with shopping, medical appointments and other day-to-day commitments.

“These homes have been thoughtfully designed to support greater independence while ensuring residents can access additional support when they need it.”

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell attended the official opening on Tuesday.

“These are the right homes in the right places for the right people,” he said in a statement to SunLive.

The ceremony included a ribbon-cutting and an address from Autism New Zealand chief executive Dane Duggan.

Uffindell said the Government had continued investing in social housing through successive Budgets, noting that Budgets 2024 and 2025 funded more than 2700 new homes.

A further $69.2 million had been allocated to the Flexible Fund to deliver between 1800 and 2250 additional social homes from 2028-29.

Uffindell said the social housing waitlist had fallen from 25,483 to 19,704 since late 2023.

“While it is clear there is more work to do, this continued investment will deliver many more homes for the New Zealanders who need them most.”

Equity House was approached for comment.

Zoe Blake is a multimedia journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post.