Kāinga Ora puts two Northland social housing projects on hold

Kāinga Ora has put two major social housing projects in Northland on hold as the agency re-assesses its future building plans.

In the wake of a highly critical report into the state housing agency's financial management, Housing Minister Chris Bishop has instructed Kāinga Ora to come up with a "turn-around plan" by November.

The agency was told the plan should incorporate no net increase in the number of Kāinga Ora homes after 30 June 2025.

That means it could continue to build new homes after that date, but only to replace housing that was no longer suitable for tenanting.

Any building projects currently underway will continue but Kāinga Ora has put projects due to be completed after mid-2025 on hold pending re-assessment.

The two Northland projects which might not go ahead are 50 new homes at Ruakākā, south of Whangārei, and an unspecified number of homes on Kerikeri's main street, next to Kerikeri Retirement Village.

The news has been greeted with relief by neighbours of the two developments, and with concern from some community housing providers.

Liz Cassidy-Nelson, chief executive of One Double Five Whare Awhina Community House in Whangārei, said more social housing was badly needed.

Some of Kāinga Ora's plans had sparked "a lot of agitation" but the organisation was starting to listen to public concerns, she said.

"We want them to build villages, not these huge multi-storey buildings. We did strongly advocate against that."

Meanwhile, homelessness was worsening in Northland, Cassidy-Nelson said.

There were now 90 people coming through the door every day at Open Arms, a day shelter for the homeless that her organisation operated in Whangārei.

Part of the issue was Northland's burgeoning population, with growth of 8.3 percent since 2018.

Only Waikato recorded higher population growth during that period, according to data from the most recent census.

Cassidy-Nelson said locals were being displaced as more people moved to Northland.

Combined with planned changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, which she said would reduce the rights of renters, the situation would only get worse.

The Ruakākā development would have seen 16 existing state homes between Peter Snell Road, Tiki Place and Tamingi Street replaced by 50 dwellings in two-storey buildings.

Some of the existing homes have already been vacated in preparation for the project.

Residents have said they are pleased the "battery hen development", as they describe it, is on hold and hope it will be scrapped altogether.

There were similar sentiments further north in Kerikeri, although Kāinga Ora's plans for a 4000 square-metre property at 115 Kerikeri Road had yet to be finalised when the project was put on hold this week.

The site is virtually surrounded by Kerikeri Retirement Village.

The intensive, three-storey buildings would have dwarfed the village, chief executive Hilary Sumpter said.

The effects would have been compounded by two other Kāinga Ora projects on nearby Clark Road.

"It wasn't doing the right thing by Kerikeri or the village. There was a distinct lack of consultation. They were imposing it on us."

Sumpter said she was keen to talk to central government about more suitable uses for the site, such as affordable rentals for the elderly.

Kāinga Ora's Northland director Jeff Murray said the organisation had been building new social housing in Northland at pace, in line with the Government's Public Housing Plan.

He said Kāinga Ora was committed and on track to meeting the plan's targets, which included all developments contracted for delivery by 30 June 2025.

"The contracting of further Kāinga Ora social housing projects is now under assessment while we work with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development on locations they would like prioritised, and our approach to housing renewal. As decisions are made, we will keep the community informed," he said.

Kāinga Ora projects that are going ahead in Northland are:

• 22 homes on Clark Road, Kerikeri. Stage 1 almost complete, with eight homes due to be finished in late August. Consents granted for stage 2 (14 homes); completion due before June 2025.
• 55 homes on Wanaka Street (former Tikipunga Tavern site), Whangārei. Currently under construction.
• 95 homes in a staged development on Kauika Road (former Casa Blanca Motel), Whangārei. Construction of stage 1 (27 homes) is underway and due to be completed before 30 June, 2025. Stages 2 and 3 are due to be built by mid-2026.

As of 31 March, the latest figures available from MSD, 1266 applicants were on the waiting list for social housing in Northland.

That was an increase of 150 since March 2023, but the same as the figure for March 2022.

Figures obtained from Kāinga Ora show Northland had 2401 state homes as of 30 June 2024, an increase of 87 this year.

The data shows the region had 2338 state houses in 2012, which slumped to 2179 in 2017 after a years-long government policy of divestment.

Since then numbers had slowly been building up again.

Although the minister's letter to Kāinga Ora calls for no net growth in state-owned social housing after mid-2025, this year's Budget provided funding for an additional 1500 social homes to be built by community housing providers around the country.