Te Mātāwai, a complex of 276 apartment units on Greys Avenue in the CBD, opened its doors this morning. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
A major social housing development in central Auckland has opened after four years of construction.
But some of the apartments will be reserved for renters - a first for New Zealand's public housing system.
Te Mātāwai, a complex of 276 apartment units on Greys Avenue in the CBD, opened its doors this morning.
The $140 million development replaces a seven-storey building with 87 units that was demolished in 2019.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was at the opening. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
"Te Mātāwai is the largest public housing development delivered to date by the government," Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said at the opening.
"We need to do more of this, we need to make sure every Kiwi whānau has a warm, dry, comfortable place to call home."
Hipkins pledged to continue with similar high-density projects across Auckland.
"I'm not going to rest until we've built enough houses to accommodate all the people who are in need," he said.
"We've seen an increase in the number of people who are in need in recent decades."
He claimed the National Party was responsible for that increase.
"The last government purged people from the public housing waiting lists, and now we're seeing the consequences of that," he said.
"People who had moderate needs during the tenure of the last government got dropped off the waiting list. They're coming back on the waiting list now because their housing need has become more urgent."
Hipkins said Labour would "keep the momentum going," while "National's track record is that they stop momentum".
Since it was elected in 2017, Hipkins said Labour had delivered 13,305 public housing units across its various developments.
The latest was something of an experiment. Te Mātāwai will include a mix of social housing, temporary accommodation, and rental properties.
Housing Minister Megan Woods said this development was new to Aotearoa. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
"There's various models around the world, but this is new in New Zealand," Minister of Housing Megan Woods said.
"Two hundred of those are public housing, 76 of them are market rentals."
The intention was to ensure a "diverse and mixed community," she said.
"We need to be building communities, we need to be bringing different people together."
Woods said she was persuaded by Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson.
"Then I had to persuade my colleagues that this was the best case, because in some ways it goes against the grain," she said.
But renters would still be housed separately, in one of the three towers that made up the complex.
"At the moment, the market rentals are all in one part of the building," Woods said.
Hipkins said he was confident in Te Mātāwai's potential to deliver positive outcomes for its tenants.
"This is best practise design, it's drawn on New Zealand and international evidence about how best to do this," he said.