One of the 10 KiwiBuild homes in Hawke's Bay is lifted into place.
One of the 10 KiwiBuild homes in Hawke's Bay is lifted into place.
An open home for the first Hawke's Bay KiwiBuild home to hit the market will be held on Saturday with a $380,000 price tag.
However, critics say the 10 Kiwi homes that will be available in Napier do little to meet the needs of hundreds displaced in the demolition andremoval of state housing more than five years ago.
The Maraenui house is one of 10 assembled in a Hutt Valley production plant, transported to Napier and placed on a former state-housing site in Geddis Ave, a site formerly occupied by a two-storey state housing block.
Prices will range up to $395,000 according to government agency Kainga Ora - Homes and Communities, which was established on October 1 in place of what was long-known as Housing Corp.
One Maraenui mum who has followed the housing crisis from its earliest days says promises of rent-to-buy, other affordable methods of entry to the property market and replacement social housing to meet the needs of lower income families have not been realised.
She claims the state cleanout of state housing assets was done to help private investors.
The result is a housing crisis which sees hundreds in motels, at the taxpayer cost, awaiting homes which are not materialising, she said. She labelled it a "joke" and a "scam".
The finished homes sit waiting for buyers. Photo / Paul Taylor
Social media posts suggest locals see little chance of a first-home opportunity.
City council and agency workshops in Maraenui recently attracted significant numbers, said council manager community strategies Natasha Mackie, who understands four families have been "pre-approved" as eligible to purchase the homes under the KiwiBuild programme.
Buyers must have previously never owned a home, although there's room for "second-chancers". Individual income cannot exceed $120,000, and combined family income cannot exceed $180,000.
Purchasers are also supposed to occupy the homes for at least a year, but community fears are that the homes are squeezed on to the site, and are not suitable for people wanting to make them a permanent home, and will become the domain of investor landlords and higher rents.
Housing Minister Megan Woods says the previous National-led Government demolished 33 state houses in the area in 2014 and did nothing to replace them or address the housing need in Hawke's Bay.
"We're beginning to put that right by building state and affordable KiwiBuild houses and by partnering with the Maraenui community, Kainga Ora and the Napier City Council, to work on the Activate Maraenui Concept plan. We want to get this right."
She said the new Labour-led Government had "got on with" delivering 56 new state homes in Napier and 16 in Hastings in the past two years, and would provide 120-190 homes in the period 2018-2022.
The Government has also put $400 million into a "progressive home ownership scheme" and launched and developed other projects to make home market entry more affordable.
Woods said she recognised the Geddis Ave homes would be "out of reach" for some families — "which is why we're also building state houses and making life better for renters by making changes to the Residential Tenancies Act".
