Welcoming Communities | Hamilton City Council

Our communities - snapshot

Here’s a quick overview of our city’s communities. See our diverse communities page for more detail on Hamilton’s youth (rangatahi), older people, those with disabilities, and ethnic communities – including resources, support and useful links specific to these groups.

View our data and statistics to further help you understand our communities, including Census information, our Quality of Life surveys and community profiles.

Creating a welcoming place to live

We want to ensure that Hamilton is home to healthy, resilient and connected communities that have a positive impact on the wellbeing of everyone living here:

Our Community and Social Development Strategy 2021-2026 (He Rautaki Whakawhanake Hapori) encompasses the needs of our diverse communities. One of our goals is high community use of our places and services because they are accessible, safe and welcoming.
Find out about our Welcoming Plan – This is Hamilton's commitment to ensure our city is more open and accepting, building on existing efforts to embrace cultural diversity and inclusion.
We’re making it easier for the community to use our public spaces and places too.
Find out how you and your community can ensure your voice is heard in Council’s decision-making.
See city events, and diverse communities for information on places to go and what to do in Hamilton.

Community network meetings

Get involved in Hamilton’s regular community network meetings (north, north east, west, south east and H-Town Youth Connect).

The Hamilton Multicultural Trust also facilitates a New Settlers Focus Group community network meeting each term to connect agencies working with people who have recently moved to Hamilton. These meetings are held at the Waikato Migrant Resource Centre, Boundary Road, Claudelands Park between 9.30am and 11.30am.

View the latest schedule

Moving to Hamilton

Hamilton Kirikiriroa Welcoming Plan

Council was accepted into New Zealand’s Welcoming Communities - Te Waharoa ki ngā Hapori programme in 2021. The programme aims to help newcomers – including recent migrants, former refugees, international students – feel more supported and included.

Hamilton is already incredibly diverse with a long history of people moving here from other countries. Moving to a new country or town can be challenging, and developing a welcoming plan helps us to make it easier for newcomers to the city.
We’d like it to continue to grow and develop our Welcoming Plan as a living document, so get in touch with us if you or your organisation would like to contribute to its future development.
Phone 07 838 6699 or email info@hcc.govt.nz and ask for our Community Development Team.

You can also visit Te Waka’s website for information on living and working in the Waikato region.

Settling in

Check out our free 2022 Your Guide to Hamilton. It’ll tell you all about what Hamilton has to offer, plus it’s packed full of details on organisations, community groups, services and other resources you can access. You can download a copy – or pick up a copy from your local library.

New Zealand Citizenship

If you’ve already moved here and want to apply to be a New Zealand citizen, visit the Department of Internal Affairs’ website or give them a call on 0800 22 51 51. Once your application is approved, they’ll also let you know the date for your official citizenship ceremony.