Napier state housing cuts: Maraenui site to stay empty, 12 years after demolition job

The empty sites on 45-57 Bledisloe Rd will remain empty after an announcement that a 19-home social housing development will not go ahead. In the distance is a nine-home project set for completion by the end of this year. Photo / Doug Laing

Redevelopment of the residential “heart” of Maraenui, still vacant 12 years after state housing demolition in the area, has been blocked in the latest Government cutbacks of the social housing spend.

Government agency Kāinga Ora Homes and Communities says the canning of 212 projects nationwide includes 19 homes planned for 45-57 Bledisloe Rd, which had been set to go ahead in the next 12 months.

Kāinga Ora also says there are no plans for building on 1-17 Bledisloe Rd, which has also been vacant for more than 12 years.

Its regional director for the east North Island, Graeme Broderick, confirmed development of 45-57 Bledisloe Road “will not proceed as designed and consulted on previously”.

In relation to 1-17 Bledisloe Rd, he said that in 2022 it was being considered for market and affordable homes in conjunction with local build partners, but that had not “progressed”.

“However, we are working on plans for the use of both sites that ensure any future development meets the needs of the community,” Broderick said.

“We expect to come back to the community with what those plans might look like later this year.”

Six-term Napier City councillor Maxine Boag, whose Nelson Park Ward includes Maraenui, said while other projects are going ahead in the suburb, in Lister Cres and Lister Place and around Fitzgerald Park, the Bledisloe Rd decisions are “very disappointing”.

“It’s the heart of Maraenui and the residents once there were the eyes and ears around the shopping centre,” Boag said.

Demolitions and the displacing of residents had widespread housing, social and schooling impacts, she said, but meetings between the community and the agencies over more than a decade had led the community to believe Bledisloe Rd would be rebuilt.

“The community is entitled to feel let down,” Boag said. “This is not what they would have been led to expect.”

Sparked by issues relating to the demolitions, which started in 2012 and were among the earliest in the social housing reform programme of the National Party-led Government of Sir John Key, the council has embarked on urban renewal in the area.

It has undertaken redevelopment of the shopping centre environment, but a community facility known as Te Pihinga, also on Bledisloe Rd, opposite the shops, is on hold for financial reasons.

While many new homes have appeared in a programme initiated in the term of Labour Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern, another change of Government in 2023 led to financial cutbacks – and last week’s announcement.

Mayor Kirsten Wise said the sites had long represented a promise that Maraenui would see renewed housing and investment in the heart of the suburb.

“The people of Maraenui deserve better. They’ve waited over a decade for action, and to now be told that no development is planned is a real blow.

“We’ve made our commitment clear through the upgrades we’ve delivered in this area but it’s vital that central Government follows through on its housing responsibilities.”

Napier MP Katie Nimon said the community would be disappointed, given how long the sites have sat empty.

“But this reset is about fixing a broken system, making sure Kāinga Ora only invests in projects that stack up and are in the right places,” Nimon said.

“It’s not good enough that promises were made and not delivered. What matters now is moving forward and getting things right.

“While some projects like Bledisloe Road won’t proceed as originally planned, the focus now is on delivering better housing outcomes across Napier and the East Coast.

“We’re already seeing that happen, [with] 250 new public homes delivered in the region by June 2025 and another 156 expected by June 2026. On top of that, 70 existing homes have already been upgraded, with more to come.”

Kāinga Ora chief executive Matt Crockett said the reviews were “essential to ensuring we only progress new housing projects that make commercial sense and that we sell land which is surplus to our requirements so we can get on a more financially sustainable footing”.

The scene in December 2012 as demolition crews set about removing state housing in the section 45-57 Bledisloe Rd, Napier. The Maraenui section is to remain empty, and could be sold, following a decision not to go ahead with a 19-home social housing development. Photo / Duncan Brown

The decisions “allow us to move forward with confidence into the next phase of our reset, but they do require us to make one-off accounting writedowns of between $190 to $220 million,” Crockett said.

A block of nine homes at 19-24 Bledisloe Rd (between Darwin Cres and Hillary Cres) is expected to be completed by Christmas.

Only one other yet-to-begin Hawke’s Bay project was chopped in last week’s announcement, a single-home in Tamatea.

Projects still going ahead in Maraenui include 30 homes in Lister Cres and Lister Place, 11 in Percy Spiller Ave and Bestall St, and four in adjacent Fitzgerald Place.

There are 11 planned for Nash St, between Maraenui and Marewa, and six in nearby Williams St, Marewa.

None have been cut from the programme in Hastings, where 15 homes are projected for Kaiapo Rd, Camberley, and six are planned for Queen St East, Parkvale.

The remainder are single-home builds, and all the projects are scheduled for the 2026-2027 year.