Strong Voices

Greg Orchard, Accessible Properties Chief Executive, is keeping a promise he made to himself several jobs ago; that he would work fewer hours. Greg has resigned and leaves his role at the end of June.

He made that promise in 2007 but by the end of that year he had moved to a new role at Wellington City Council to assist with a $400 million renewal of its social housing.

Before long Greg was also helping to shape Accessible Properties, a new IHC subsidiary company. Greg’s involvement with Accessible Properties started soon after its establishment in 2010, initially as an advisor, then as an independent director in 2013, and finally as its first Chief Executive in 2017 as the organisation got ready to take over more than a thousand state houses in Tauranga.

The launch of Accessible Properties marked a new direction for IHC. Instead of solely managing IHC’s property portfolio, the new company moved into social housing, becoming a community housing provider with access to the government’s rental subsidies and social housing funds and able to provide housing for a wider group of people who needed it.

These days Accessible Properties is New Zealand’s largest non-government, registered community-housing provider, operating nationwide with more than 2700 properties.

Accessible Properties Board Chair Andrew Evans says Greg has been instrumental in the company’s significant growth and success. “Thanks to Greg’s superb leadership the organisation is in a strong financial position with a great team and strong culture.”

Greg acknowledges some concern within IHC about the shift in focus. It’s a hard story to sell,” he says. “How could having a housing portfolio assist IHC in its objectives? What has long been clear is that access to good-quality secure housing is a key determinant of people’s life chances and that people with disabilities are one of the most disadvantaged groups when it comes to accessing appropriate housing. We also talk about creating a store of value within IHC for the benefit of future generations of people with intellectual disabilities.”

Greg says IHC’s property ownership has a dual purpose - providing homes for people in need and an investment. He says Accessible Properties is already paying a return to IHC for its investment.

“There has to be a link back to the charitable purposes of IHC. That is critical.”

Greg has been working in public housing ever since he started as a cadet at the Housing Corporation of New Zealand in 1980. He is a Chartered Accountant who has previously worked at Housing New Zealand in the roles of Chief Financial Officer and General Manager of Asset Services.

He says it’s never just about the bricks and mortar; it’s about the people. “We talk about creating places where people can belong and thrive. What gives me satisfaction is what we are creating. And we are not at a point where we are finished. We are never going to be finished.”

He says it is not easy getting good-quality housing for people that is affordable. Greg is frustrated at the lack of progress during COVID and the storm events of 2023. “We lost a lot of traction in the dark days of COVID.” But he says Healthy Homes upgrades will be completed this year and Accessible Properties is about to launch a new strategy that will allow the organisation to respond well to the pressure of a complex and changing housing environment. “Part of my role was to get the organisation financially sustainable and secure, and that’s done.”

Greg, at 63, is not retiring, but is still to decide what comes next. He and his wife Claire plan to remain in Wellington.

Above: Accessible Properties Chief Executive Greg Orchard hands over the leadership in June.