State housing buy-up spooks North Hamilton residents

Friday, 10 February 2023

High density social housing by Kāinga Ora will see the first tenants moving in on Borman Rd over the next couple of months.

Some north Hamilton residents are worried a swathe of newly bought public housing across the street will impact their property values.

But one city real estate leader says so much state housing is being spread across city suburbs that it won’t make much difference on house prices, and it would be unusual for someone to be living more than 100m away from community housing, whether they knew it or not.

Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities is in the final stages of purchasing the new build at 45 Borman Road, Huntington, comprising 20 three-bedroom homes and seven two-bedroom homes in a $20 million higher density block.

The first tenants are expected to move in over the next couple of months.

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Residents in Huntington are concerned the Government is pushing the motel problems from the town to the side of a community.

However, some residents who had bought nearby before the state house buy-up were anxious about the scale of the development and the number of potentially vulnerable people grouped together.

One, who spoke to Stuff on the condition of anonymity, compared the public housing to failed large scale developments in the US, “where all vulnerable people will be shoved together”.

“Are you trying to build a ghetto?

“Twenty seven Kāinga Ora homes are going to be squashed in together, and if all these people are needing support and are vulnerable, how will they support each other?”

Kāinga Ora has faced a string of cases in recent years where neighbours of problem tenants have been unable to get action from the state landlord.

However, the government agency is in a bind trying to move people from emergency accommodation motels which have generated dysfunction and crime and are also in breach of basic human rights, in a market lacking enough suitable housing.

Kāinga Ora told Stuff their job was to buy the houses, but Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) along with Emerge Aotearoa and Ministry of Social Development decided who was going to live in those houses.

Emerge Aotearoa is contracted to manage and maintain the homes, along with ensuring people and families in these homes are well-supported.

Candidates were families in emergency housing motels.

“These referrals will also be vetted by Emerge to ensure suitability. Potential risks will be managed by the support services provided by the community housing provider, Emerge.”

There was a high need for housing in Hamilton, they said.

There were 1,680 people on the Housing Register in Hamilton.

“There are all sorts of reasons people might need transitional housing - their rental property might have been sold, or they might have been staying with family but circumstances have changed and that’s no longer possible.”

Some north Hamilton residents were concerned the government was pushing the motel problem from the CBD into a suburban community.

Simon Lugton, managing director at Lugton Real Estate, says there’s so much happening in Hamilton that it will be unusual to live more than a 100 m from some kind of community housing.

“What we are doing here is moving people from motels to houses… it will become a big motel complex.

“The people don't have a choice but be surrounded by 26 other vulnerable families. It is better to spread them out and put them in communities where people can look out for each other.”

The family worried the stigma attached the Kāinga Ora houses would negatively affect their property value and said, “we know that it will go down, but that’s something outside our control”.

Another young family shared the view and said they would lose money if they wanted to sell their house and move away.

They bought the house last year and said safety was a priority when making that decision.

“If I had an idea they were putting public housing next door, I wouldn’t have purchased this house and instead gone for a different locality.”

But Lugtons Real Estate managing director Simon Lugton said social housing was becoming normalised and any effect on property values would not be “that dramatic or noticeable”.

“It is not unusual to go down a street and there are one or two or three Kāinga Ora houses.

“So I guess, we are in a bit of transition period where there has been a lot more purchase of those properties by Kāinga Ora in the last few years.

“It was a different landscape couple of years ago, but now that it is becoming more common place, I wonder if it is going to be a little more normalised.”

Huntington resident Valam Naidoo says transitional housing across the road is not a problem as long as people adhere to rules.

However, the desirability of buying or renting a house depended on the buyer, he said.

“Different buyers have got different needs.

Lugton said while fear potentially played a role, there was a difference between living right next door, compared to a few doors down the road.

“Maybe right next door, it could potentially be an effect, but 50m down the road, I think people are probably less concerned about it.

“There’s so much happening in Hamilton that it would be unusual to live more than a 100m from some kind of community housing.

“There has been a definite thrust of the government to purchase these properties. We are seeing very strong evidence of it.

“They are not buying it in one area, but multiple different suburbs.”

Shweta Kadge decided to move to Huntington from Five Cross Roads for the safety of her young family.

“We heard of a lot of burglaries (in the area), and people have attempted to get inside our house through windows and the car was also broken into.

“That is why we decided to move into this area, for the safety.

Valan Naidoo, nearby resident, said it was not a problem as long as people adhere to rules and regulations.

“From the point of taking care of the community, it should be okay, because people need houses.

“We can’t really be fussy about that. It is Government’s responsibility to take care of the vulnerable, and it is a good thing they are doing it, I just think there should be some rules and regulations around it.”