Brakes put on more than 370 Kāinga Ora housing developments nationally

Monday, 30 September 2024

The Arlington site in Mt Cook had the potential to provide up to 300 homes but physical works on the site had been put on hold while Kāinga Ora reviewed the plans.

The futures of 371 Kāinga Ora housing developments around the country intended for 10 or more houses is uncertain, while 23,000 households continue to wait for a home.

Public Housing Futures, a public housing advocacy group, put together a map showing all development sites across the motu either paused or being reconsidered. It also included five cancelled projects, which would have provided more than 185 households.

The group called on the Government to build and buy enough public housing to end the waiting list and for public housing to make up 20% of all homes, spokesperson Vanessa Cole said.

“There's so many people waiting for homes in these communities and these developments, whether it's in a big city or a small rural town, are all desperately needed,” she said.

Public housing makes up 3.8% of all homes in New Zealand which is half of the OECD average, Cole said

The map used data based on an Official Information Act request, listing 371 developments which were intended to have 10 or more units and which had been paused and assessed by Kāinga Ora, the Crown agency which manages public housing and provides tenancy services for those in need, as of July 31.

It included information about the number of homes going to be built, the public housing waiting list in the area and contact details for the local MP.

“In lots of these developments, the idea was that they would remove the current state housing and then build more public housing,” Cole said.

Vanessa Cole of Public Housing Futures is calling on the Government to build and buy enough housing to end the public waitlist and to increase public housing to 20% of the total housing stock in New Zealand.

“But what we're seeing now is that families have been pushed out of those homes and out of their communities in order to make way for these developments that are now sitting empty and maybe not proceeding at all, and times where we know that there's a crisis at every level in this country.”

In Auckland there were 101 sites paused including two in Onehunga, one of which would have had a planned 29 units and the other 185 apartments. Sixty-two tenants were evicted from the land for the apartment site on Jordan Ave but it was now likely to be sold to private developers, details in the map stated.

There were 471 households on the waiting list for Maungakiekie-Tāmaki which encompassed the area.

Aerial view of a Kāinga Ora project at 15-21 Main South Road & 29 Ballantyne Avenue in Christchurch that is currently paused.

In Hamilton, 1458 households were on the waiting list where two development sites, which would created more than 100 homes, had been paused.

Meanwhile, in Christchurch, 265 homes were paused across seven sites with a 1599 waiting list in the city and in Wellington region, 15 sites were paused with at least 470 homes planned and more than 2000 people on the waiting list.

Kāinga Ora tenant and resident Sarah Russell of Dixon St flats, in Wellington, has notice to leave without having an onward address.

Kāinga Ora was still working through its options for the future of the Dixon St Flats in central Wellington. More than a 100 households had to move out earlier this year.

One of those tenants reluctantly moved into a flat in the northern suburbs after being handed an eviction notice. Initially tenants were told they would be able to move back into the building which was deemed old and outdated but the future of the building was yet to be determined.

Their current flat was the most suitable of all the options provided to them. But having to commute into the city was “a learning curve”, they said. The tenant agreed to the flat on the basis that it was temporary to search for a home that better suited their needs, including mobility issues.

The move did not sit well with them, given they were prioritised to be re-homed over others who had already been on a waiting list.

“It just seems like moving people out for the sake of moving people out to make the building empty.”

In May, the Government announced it would be making “immediate” changes to Kāinga Ora, following a critical review led by former PM Sir Bill English.

“The review found that Kāinga Ora has had easy access to debt but insufficient focus on fiscal discipline, and low levels of accountability have led to growing annual losses and a deteriorating financial situation,” Housing Minister Chris Bishop said at the time.

The Government promised to issue “simplified direction” to Kāinga Ora and align contractual arrangements across Kāinga Ora and Community Housing Providers.

Kāinga Ora central region deputy chief executive Daniel Soughtton said a number of projects were under assessment while it reviewed its social housing delivery pipeline with a focus on best value for money and areas of greater social housing need.

“Working through the additional homes we have been asked to deliver is an ongoing process,” Soughtton said.

Some projects would process at a future date while others would be reworked to ensure better value for money.

“As decisions are made, we will keep stakeholders and communities updated.”

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said at any point in time there will be a range of projects being rephased or paused or not proceeding “due to a range of factors”.

Kāinga Ora’s existing build programme was on track to deliver the contracted additional social housing places as funded in Budget 2023, he said. The coalition Government had funded 1500 additional social homes, which would be delivered by Community Housing Providers.

The refreshed Kāinga Ora board, led by new chairperson Simon Moutter, would present a Kāinga Ora turnaround plan ‒ focusing on returning the agency to financial sustainability and eliminating losses ‒ end of the year, Bishop said.