Blockhouse Bay complex: Kāinga Ora plans social housing on land donated for senior citizens' homes

Residents in the Auckland suburb of Blockhouse Bay say a new Kāinga Ora complex is taking away a piece of land that was promised to pensioners.

The land was donated in the '70s by a former resident of the area on the condition it provided housing to older citizens.

However, a new social housing complex has seen 33 elderly residents re-homed and the community says Kāinga Ora's lack of communication is a kick in the guts.

Benefactor made gesture in memory of wife

In 1974 Roy Benjafield Thompson, also known as Darby, donated 1.14 acres of his land in the southwest suburb of Blockhouse Bay to Auckland City Council.

In memory of his late wife, he donated the land with the purpose of housing pensioners, so the elderly had a place to call home.

In 2003, Auckland Council sold the land to Kāinga Ora, which has recently applied for resource consent to start building 68 new homes on Marlowe Road and Bolton Street.

Blockhouse Bay resident Benji Nathan has lived in the area for years.

He said apart from two pamphlets from Kāinga Ora he received in the mail, he had to inform the community about the project online.

"A very few people have received a letter [from Kāinga Ora]. I live pretty close to the complex and my next-door neighbour has not received the letter.

"It wasn't until I posted in the [Facebook] community page that there was wider awareness," he said.

Nathan said the community felt blindsided by the project.

"The letters that are now available on their website, none of that information was available until the last fortnight. Apart from the community post that I've made of material that I've received - there was nothing that has actually come out from Kāinga Ora."

In one of his walks around the neighbourhood, Nathan found out about the land donation for pensioners through a metal plaque at the gate of Marlowe Mews.

"As I came through the walkaway, on a white brick wall at the front entrance is a bronze plaque that reads that the land was donated expressly for senior citizens of Auckland in honour of his [Thompson's] late wife and parents."

He then sent a picture of the plaque to the community group and also to Kainga Ora.

"Their response was along the lines of they were providing social housing for the needs of a wide range of people, and it was with the understanding that they could do what they wanted with the land."

Through an Official Information Request, Nathan later found all the documentation related to Thompson's conditions when donating the land back in the 70s.

"That was how I found the signed agreement between Mr Thompson and the council at the time, as well as the transaction statement and also an article published regarding the donation and gifting of the land expressively for pensioner housing."

The community tried to engage with Kāinga Ora, but the process was a struggle, he said.

"Right from the get-go Kāinga Ora has been pretty silent," Nathan said, "In their drop-in sessions they weren't able to provide the answers to the questions we had despite they've been supplied with the documents.

"We asked for the responses to the questions to be done in a formal meeting, where the community could voice their concerns, but the response was that it would not be an option and answers would be available online."

'We are not against social housing' - residents

An online petition was created by residents to stop the development, with 1527 signatures as of Tuesday evening.

Tarawhati Williams has lived in Blockhouse Bay for 12 years and said the community was disappointed with the lack of engagement from the crown entity.

"We are not against redevelopment of the area itself," he said.

"The sentiment on which the land was gifted was for pensioners' housing and when we see that there is no room for those pensioners on this development, it is a bit of a kick in the guts."

He said for his elderly neighbours, moving away from their homes will take a toll on their wellbeing.

"You are taking those pensioners out of what they know and love about the area itself, the community. They should feel like they shouldn't have to go anywhere.

"That should be a mix of social housing going into that particular development," Williams said.

Blockhouse Bay resident Angela agreed, and said the community felt gagged trying to voice their concerns.

"There is a plaque down there. It says 'this land is for pensioners', so we just all assumed pensioners were going back in, but as soon as we saw the plan we felt ripped off and angry.

"To suddenly walk in and say 'hey, here is the plan', and that's it? We had no community engagement whatsoever," she said.

Older customers are important - Kāinga Ora

Kāinga Ora regional director Taina Jones said in a statement the complex will help to provide housing for those with accessibility needs in an area which is close to schools and a range of other services.

"This honours the spirit with which the land was made available - to ensure that a group of people in need in the community would have housing they might otherwise struggle to access," she said.

Jones said the homes in Marlowe and Bolton Streets were bought by Housing New Zealand (now Kāinga Ora) in 2003 as part of a large purchase of about 1700 Auckland City Council pensioner housing units.

"At the time the properties were transferred to Housing New Zealand, the government of the day did commit to ensuring the pensioners living in the homes would be able to rely on Housing New Zealand for a home, but not specifically the house they were living in in 2003."

In a statement available online, Kāinga Ora said when it bought the land, it was with the understanding that as long as it finds new homes for customers, it did not need to ensure the land was reserved for any particular group of people.

It said pensioners will be offered the choice to return to the area where they have a desire to do so and where their housing needs match a home.

Jones said Kāinga Ora played a big role in providing housing for older people.

"More than a quarter of our 29,000 Auckland homes have someone over 65 living in the household, and about 3000 seniors live alone in our homes," she said.

"We appreciate the needs of our older customers and it is worth noting we hold or are developing several complexes for older people."

Older customers were important, and the Crown entity was working hard to ensure it had the right mix of homes for them, she said.

In terms of communication with residents, Jones said since the project started, Kāinga Ora has sent two letters to residents, one when investigating the site in July last year and another, six months later, when it lodged a resource consent.

"We have been in touch with the schools in the area and recently attended a Board of Trustees meeting at Blockhouse Bay Intermediate School, during which we addressed a number of questions about our plans."

Kāinga Ora said it was planning further drop-in sessions for residents.