Kāinga Ora hits pause on projects

Two Kāinga Ora housing developments in Nelson have been put on hold.

A 16-home development on Nile St and another development on Examiner St have been paused as the public housing provider reassesses its asset management strategy.

This includes “understanding priorities and financing” for their housing renewal programme, according to regional director Julia Campbell.

The news comes amid the resignation of Kāinga Ora chief executive Andrew McKenzie earlier this month, followed by the replacement of the entire board of the housing agency, who have been served with new expectations including a material reduction in operating losses.

The Nile St development is located at the site of the former Masonic Lodge and was first announced in late 2022. It is proposed to include six two-bedroom and three three-bedroom homes, all two-storey. Resource consent was lodged in mid-2023, building consent was lodged in February of this year, and archaeological Heritage NZ consent has already been approved.

The development on Examiner St, the old Renwick Flats site, has also stalled, however, Julia says they will continue clearing the site.

“We are planning to demolish the existing buildings on the Examiner St site. We are currently exploring options for this demolition work.”

No decisions have been made about the number or type of homes, but up to 36 homes could be built on the site.

Kāinga Ora, however, is still pressing play on their development on Neale Ave in Stoke, the former Whareama site, with construction set to start in the next two months.

“The existing buildings on the 81 Neale Ave site have been removed. We expect construction of the development to begin in August/September this year and to be completed in mid-2025,” Julia says.

“Kāinga Ora expects to settle on the purchase of the property from the developer after that.”

Julia says that Kāinga Ora currently has 66 homes under contract and proceeding as planned in Nelson Tasman.

“We are working our way through decisions about other future social housing development in the Nelson region for projects that are not already contracted or under construction, to ensure the best value for money and alignment with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development priority locations.

“We will keep the community informed as decisions are made.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins labelled the government’s decision to cut funding to both Kāinga Ora new builds and maintenance “frustrating”, during his visit to Nelson last week.

“It’s very frustrating because it’s so short-sighted. I mean, the country will ultimately pay the cost of it in the longer term.

“We know from past experience what happens when they do that. State houses get run down. We need to be building more to keep up with demand, and they’re not doing either of those things,” he said.