Thieves see a golden goose

Kaitaia's He Korowai Trust sees its relocated housing development in Kohuhu Street as a golden opportunity for some who have little if any hope of ever owning a home of their own to remedy that; some thieves, it seems, regard it more as a golden goose.

In February dozens of windows were smashed, incurring a repair bill of $1227. Over the last couple of weeks 81 more have been smashed, costing $3570 to fix.

Vandals have also covered many of the nine houses in graffiti and two have had holes punched in every wall, but it goes beyond vandalism. In recent weeks the trust has lost more than 45 taps, nine hot water cylinders and two bench tops. A power meter box has been ripped off a wall, cabinets have been torn from bathroom walls and significant damage was done in one house in a bid to steal a fireplace.

On Wednesday last week the electric cabling was laid; by the next day $18,000 worth of copper had been stolen.

Police have so far apprehended only two alleged vandals, both 13-year-old boys, but doubt that they are the only ones culpable.

No one has yet been identified as responsible for any of the thefts.

Trust CEO Ricky Houghton said the intruders had smashed down the front doors to gain entry to the houses, doors that would now have to be replaced. He was far from conceding defeat, however.

"It's frustrating but we're not going to be put off," he said.

"We're committed to these families, and we will get them into their own homes. It's a bit regrettable because we don't have the money to fix the damage, but we don't have much choice.

"It's going well," he added, but district council bureaucracy was also proving to be frustrating and expensive.

Council costs had risen from the original budget of $1.7 million to $2.1 million, while money would have to be found to provide on-site storage for stormwater and to install a sewage pumping station that Mr Houghton said would send sewage "all around Kaitaia" until it returned to the housing complex 12 hours later and entered the main that had already been installed there.

"We've even had to install infrastructure for houses that aren't there," he said.

It had originally been hoped to install the first families in their homes in August /September, but the target now was Waitangi Day next year, Mr Houghton attributing three to four months of that delay to resource consent issues.