The 300 east Auckland families on the Ministry of Social Development’s social housing register are set to benefit from the construction of 38 new homes in Pakuranga.
John Tubberty, Kainga Ora regional director for central and east Auckland, says the Government agency is replacing older state houses in the suburb with warm and dry homes to “help address the pressing need for more public housing in the area”.
“We want to make more efficient use of some of the land we own in Pakuranga by redeveloping it so we can provide homes for some of those whanau (families),” he says.
“The sites where we are redeveloping are in Carole Crescent, Tiaka Place, Edgewater Drive, Cardiff Road, Opal Avenue and Aurea Avenue.
“We’re planning to replace 13 existing homes with 38 new homes.”
They’re due to be completed in 2024 and will be a mix of small one- and two-bedroom units, including some accessible units, and larger three-, four-, and five-bedroom homes.
“Some will be stand-alone homes, others duplex units,” Tubberty says.
“We are mindful of the impact this work may have on our customers and neighbours.
“Where a property is earmarked for redevelopment, we prioritise telling our customers about any proposed plans early in the process.”
The development was the subject of recent discussion on community Facebook pages after Kainga Ora delivered flyers inviting local residents to an information session at Edgewater College on March 7.
Some comments were from people expressing concern about new state housing being built in the area.
Others, including from Kainga Ora tenants, said it was a positive development, the majority of such tenants are good neighbours, and it’s unfair to judge them all because of the poor behaviour of a few.
Tubberty says the agency organised the event at Edgewater College because it wanted to share its plans with the local community and give residents a chance to ask questions and learn more about what it’s doing.
“We work hard to be accessible around our redevelopment plans and these types of events help us to achieve this, alongside other tools such as letters to residents and information on our website.”
Kainga Ora has a re-housing team that works with its tenants to find them another suitable property if theirs is being redeveloped, Tubberty says.
“There are a small number of other sites in Pakuranga where we are considering the feasibility of redeveloping them to further increase the housing stock.”
There were 23,127 people on the social housing register as at December 31 last year, a 9.4 per cent decrease from December 31, 2021.
There were 57 families on the register living in the Howick Local Board area in December 2017.
That number grew to 114 a year later, then to 261 in December 2020, and 309 in December last year.
