Good progress with new homes in Napier

“It is pleasing to see that good progress is being made building more public homes in Napier,” says Roxanne Cribb (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga), Acting Regional Director East North Island.

“With more than 700 applicants on the public housing waiting list at December 2022, there is an urgent need to provide more warm, dry homes for whānau. Since the Cyclone Gabrielle floods we know there are even more people without a suitable place to lay their head each night.

“Since July 2021 Kāinga Ora has delivered 60 new public homes in Napier. We now have 157 homes in progress that are due to be completed by June 2024, and more at the feasibility stage. Our build programme will make a significant difference to the number of homes available for the people living in cars, garages, motels or overcrowded homes.

“With limited opportunities to develop new areas for housing in Napier, our focus is on making efficient use of our land by redeveloping sites with older homes to provide additional Kāinga Ora homes.

“Therefore a lot of the new homes will be built in the well-connected suburbs of Marewa, Onekawa East and Maraenui where there is already public housing, ” says Roxanne.

Seddon Crescent
Whānau have already moved into 12 of the 24 homes being built in Seddon Crescent, Marewa. More whānau are moving into the four larger homes that were completed recently. The final eight homes are due to be completed by July.

The development consists of 4 one-bedroom, 12 two-bedroom, 2 three-bedroom and 6 four-bedroom homes, and a mix of large and small whānau are already forming a community.

The new, low maintenance homes are fully insulated, with carpets, curtains, double glazing, heat pump, in room heaters and solar panels.

Maraenui
Six homes in Kelvin Road, Maraenui are in construction, due for completion by the end of the year.

Kāinga Ora is progressing plans to build or facilitate up to 200 homes in Maraenui. Feedback gathered at community drop-in sessions in May last year has been considered as part of the design process as is our response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Onekawa
More than 70 homes are in progress to be built in Onekawa including:

• 21 homes over two sites in Cottrell Crescent
• 10 homes in Hitchings Avenue
• 15 homes in Venables Avenue and McLaren Crescent
• 13 homes Venables Avenue, Cornford Avenue and Cottrell Crescent

Community feedback on these developments was sought late last year. This has informed the designs for which resource consent has been applied for.

Render of Hitchings Avenue development

Carnell Street
Also earmarked for redevelopment are the 60 year old apartment blocks on Carnell Street. The star shaped buildings were assessed in 2021, and showed while they were at a level that was okay to live in for the short-medium term, they were considered earthquake prone. They have also become very leaky buildings in recent years.

We have looked into how we could strengthen the buildings but all options came back as uneconomic and not able to bring the buildings up to the necessary standards. A decision has been made to redevelop the site. This means the buildings will be demolished before the end of the year. Currently we are rehoming our customers, some of whom are still living in the buildings.

We are still considering how we can best use the large Carnell Road site to address the urgent need for more public homes. The design team will be looking into options in the upcoming months.  We will be talking to our key partners and the local community asking for feedback on early plans for redevelopment in the near future and throughout 2023.

Working with developers
Kāinga Ora and our housing partners are constantly looking for innovative ways to quickly increase the number of high-quality public homes where whānau can feel settled and able to move forward with their lives.

We can’t do this alone. Working in partnership is critical as is intensification; more homes on smaller sections. One of the ways to increase number of public homes available is by buying completed homes off developers. The developer purchases the land and builds the homes that meet public housing standards. These homes are then purchased once they are complete for public housing.

This is what we are doing with a number of housing developments in Napier. This includes a 12 home development in Wellesley Street that has just received resource consent and seven homes in Latham Street Napier South where construction is due to start.

See more of what's happening in the Hawke's Bay region.