Council & Staff

Cate is the chief executive of Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust, the South Island’s largest community housing provider. She has worked as a practitioner and leader in community housing, mental health and addiction services for 25 years, with organisations spanning the public and non-profit sectors and in management and governance roles with regional and national reach. Cate’s move into community housing fulfilled her personal interest in housing and the belief that adequate housing for all is the cornerstone of well-being and economic stability. Before joining the housing sector, Cate was a keen follower of house design, green technologies and the ways in which architecture and urban design help build communities where individuals thrive. Cate has previously led and served on several non-governmental organisation boards and committees, including co-chair of the National Committee of Addictions Treatment and a Trustee of Partnership Health Primary Health Organisation, Kina Trust and Te Korowai Youth Health Trust. Cate lives in Christchurch.

In the early 1980’s, straight from high school, Greg commenced his career in housing. Since then he has held numerous broad senior leadership and governance roles in central government, local government, and not-for-profit organisations. With over 30 years’ experience in public and social housing in New Zealand, he has been involved in leadership roles through various housing reforms. He joined the Board of Accessible Properties as an independent Director in 2013 and became the company’s first Chief Executive in January 2017. As well as his role on the Community Housing Aotearoa National Council his governance roles include one of New Zealand’s 11 National Science Challenges, focussed on science investment designed to tackle New Zealand’s biggest science-based challenges and the IHC Group Audit Committee. His previous governance roles include, Chair of the University of Canterbury Quake Centre, the Building Research Association of New Zealand, Wellington Waterfront Limited, and the Australasian Housing Institute. Greg is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Australasian Housing Institute.

Hope Simonsen, General Manager Housing Trust – Emerge Aotearoa.

Hope has spent the past 16 years in the housing sector. Her housing journey began with Housing New Zealand in 2005 when the agency received crown funding to build community housing providers and grow community housing supply. A number of organisations were established as housing providers as a result of this funding.  After seven years, she moved to work as a property consultant in the commercial sector with The Property Group and then worked for Community Housing Aotearoa for a year.

She now leads Emerge Aotearoa’s Housing Trust, which provides long term social housing and tenancy and property management services for transitional housing for whānau and individuals from Whangarei to Invercargill.

Hope is also Co-Chair (Tangata Tiriti) of the National Science Challenge – Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities.

Lisa Woolley is the CEO of VisionWest Community Trust, one of New Zealand’s largest community services providers, serving over 50,000 people each year through more than 1,600 employees and volunteers throughout New Zealand. The Trust is well known for its innovative and holistic approach, encompassing a wide range of services to the community.

Lisa joined VisionWest in 1998 and became the CEO in 2001 and has since led the organization to unparalleled growth and impact on the local community.

 Lisa has completed the New Zealand Leadership Programme in 2020 which is an immersive year-long experience, involving a series of retreats, seminars and debates over a 10-month period. Participants are carefully selected as mid-career, senior leaders from a diverse range of sectors across New Zealand.  She has completed the Graduate Diploma in Not-for-Profit Management at Unitec as well as a master’s in social Practice, writing a thesis on Supportive Housing in NZ, and has been recognised for her leadership with awards locally and internationally. 

Lisa is a recognized expert of social issues and champion for social justice within New Zealand. With more than 20 years of experience as an advocate, volunteer, policy advisor, commentator, leader, and CEO, she is passionate about community development and addressing social issues such as poverty, marginalization, unemployment and homelessness.  Lisa is part of the Housing First Collective for Auckland. She is an advisor to the Baptist National Leader and is involved in the MSD Housing Reference group.  In June 2020, Lisa was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for her services to the community and governance.

Vic is highly skilled in stakeholder engagement, government relations, media, and policy development.
In addition to leadership and advocacy, she also brings with her a strong reputation for turning opportunities into outcomes and building collaborative relationships across private and government sectors. She has a long-standing personal interest in housing especially accessible housing and has family connections with construction and housing infrastructure.

Chris brings over 25 years of experience in community development with core skills in housing finance, housing development, asset management, and policy. He has overseen the development of more than 1,500 affordable ownership and rental homes in central California. He was also responsible for the asset management of 115 properties throughout California with over 5,000 units, all serving low-income households. A particular emphasis of his housing work has been with social service organisations to provide housing opportunities for persons experiencing homelessness and/or serious mental illness. Chris relocated to Wellington with his family in January 2012 and joined CHA in November 2013. Phone 027 462 0605

David has experience of social housing in both the UK and in New Zealand. His previous roles in New Zealand include tenancy manager with HNZC, community development manager for the Talbot Park Community Renewal project and, for the last 10 years, he has been the trust executive for emergency and community housing provider, Monte Cecilia Housing Trust. Phone 027 349 0461

Ngahuia bring’s a variety of experience to the team at Community Housing Aotearoa. My hope with our Housing Peak Body is to build towards a strong foundation and support to ensure every New Zealander is well-housed in a warm, safe, dry and affordable home for all. Mauri ora!

Amanda is originally from Ireland and has been living in Tamaki Makaurau for almost 14 years. She has previously worked in Local Government and Non-Government Organisations in community development and health promotion roles including supporting the operational response to homelessness at Auckland Council. Amanda is passionate about working in a joined up way and improving systems and tools that enable better decision making and outcomes for communities.

Justin comes to CHA with a range of experience in communications and the media. He has worked as a journalist for a number of organisations, including Stuff.co.nz, The Spinoff and was editor of the Manukau Courier. He has also worked in a variety of communication and community advocacy roles including for the Auckland Council, The Salvation Army and Child Poverty Action Group. Justin lives in South Auckland and has a special interest in housing as he sees how the lack of affordable housing impacts his community every day.

Ben is new to the community housing sector having recently graduated from Victoria University of Wellington. Ben first joined the CHA team through one of Victoria University’s internship programmes, starting part-time in June 2020 while he continued his postgraduate study. Housing is particularly interesting to him because of its importance to human security and the social sector as a whole. Ben’s work at CHA is varied and includes conducting the supply survey through to managing social media responses and establishing a new relationship management system.