Three organisations have been chosen to provide refugee settlement support services in five new locations from February next year.
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The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment announced today that the New Zealand Red Cross, Presbyterian Support South Canterbury and Safer Ashburton will support refugees in the initial stages of resettlement.
This follows the government's decision to increase the annual refugee quota to 1500 places from 2020.
The settlement locations announced in May, include Masterton, Levin, Ashburton, Timaru and Blenheim.
Already established locations are Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington region, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill.
Presbyterian Support South Canterbury said they are delighted and honoured to welcome these families to Timaru and hope it will make a positive difference.
"We proudly celebrated 100 years of service provision in our community.... the broad range of experiences, knowledge and skills of our staff mean that we are very well placed to expand into the provision of Refugee Settlement Support services."
Family Works Manager Liz Nolan said she looked forward to having up to 5 families arrive every 8 weeks from April next year.
New Zealand Red Cross were also "delighted to be announced as the primary settlement provider for former refugees" in two new locations - Blenheim and Levin - and will be delivering settlement support in Masterton in partnership with Connecting Communities Wairarapa.
It will also act as the lead provider for employment support in all five new locations, including Timaru and Ashburton.