Housing NZ Mt Albert scheme progress under fire

Housing Nz mixed development housing. Photo / NZME.

Mt Albert residents are questioning the speed of Housing New Zealand's plans for its Asquith Ave site.

The state organisation appeared extremely slow, after initial moves on the site, they said.

The criticism comes around the same time that Labour associate housing spokesman Poto Williams said Housing NZ was supposed to have built 2000 new homes by December nationally but had completed only a third of those.

A Housing NZ spokesman said no firm plans would be released on Asquith Ave until the end of the year.

"For us, Asquith is one piece of a much larger puzzle, therefore any decision on how we choose to utilise the land must be made in consideration of other redevelopment options or decisions across our portfolio ...

"A consideration for the Asquith Ave site has always been to redevelop under a mixed tenure model; in other words, not solely providing social homes, but integrating private ones, too ...

"As our Special Housing Area redevelopment programme has gathered pace throughout Auckland, including our Jersey Ave site in Mt Albert, this approach has become increasingly viable.

"Therefore with architects Cheshire we are now looking to produce a detailed scheme that features a mix of housing options - and, of course, responds to the points of significance raised by neighbours and tackles the complexities provided by the site, in terms of its contours, topography and volume of heritage trees.

"While we're loath to provide more dates around expected timelines, we would anticipate having plans developed to a stage that we could share with neighbours by the end of the year," the spokesman said.

Williams said the Government had repeatedly talked up the progress being made in its state house building programme.

"It is obviously not walking the talk," Williams said.