Tamati Patuwai owns a green painted house with the tui painted on it in Glen Innes. Photo / Greg Bowker
Wire fences barricade off large swathes of vacant land and dusty building sites in Glen Innes as the 70-year-old Auckland suburb goes through a painful rebirth.
Spread between the railway line and the picturesque shore of the wide Tāmaki River, Glen Innes was a multi-ethnic, working class suburb of state housing. But with the push to squeeze more people into Auckland, and a massive social experiment, the area is changing.
In its town centre there are high hopes for regeneration and the increased business confidence that will be fuelled by adding thousands of residents.
While the Line Rd shopping strip is on one side dominated by the striking, copper-coloured Te Oro music and arts centre, on the other are mostly run-down structures housing a typical collection of suburban shops, with the usual sprinkling of takeaways and liquor outlets.
Glen Innes' champions, however, point to a fish shop, a butchery and a shoe repair shop as gems that pull shoppers from more-moneyed suburbs into what is mostly a low-income zone.
The sturdy houses of old Glen Innes, built with native timbers, brick - and some asbestos - during the boom years after World War II are now being demolished to make way for many more homes on smaller sections, and a lot more people.
The basic maths is to put three homes where one stood before. Big backyards are shrinking. Two storeys or more are common. And warm and dry and healthy is the plan.
Of about 2800 state-owned homes in Tāmaki - comprised of Glen Innes, Point England and Panmure - some 2500 will go over the next 10 to 20 years. Around 7500 new homes will be built, a mix of social housing, homes sold on the private market, and "affordable" market homes.
But the plan is not without casualties.
Protesters have long struggled against state tenants being forced from their homes to make way for the construction of higher value houses.
Niki Rauti, 64, fought as far as the High Court and failed in her bid to stay in the Glen Innes state house on Taniwha St where she had lived for more than 20 years.
She was shifted to a new state house 1.6km away last year and, soon after, her old place was reduced to rubble. The new place is a two-storey, two-bedroom home in a block of terraced housing. A chair elevator was installed up the stairs for Niki, who has arthritis, a heart condition and suffers breathlessness. There is a tiny yard with some grass and beyond that a garage. The neighbours, whose homes look identical, own theirs.
Rauti misses her old place. She misses her neighbours. And she believes the new house has a plumbing problem.
"This place is not built to last. The wood that was at my [old] place, it was all rimu.
"They said they are moving us into a warm, no-dampness place but we've got to use the heater. Who can afford to use the heater?" said Rauti, even though she receives the Government's winter energy payment.
Originally from the Cook Islands, Rauti is a proud citizen of Glen Innes. "This was a thriving area at one stage. Everybody was fully employed."
Pride in Glen Innes is a common sentiment among its people.
"They love the area, they love where they live," said Glen Innes Business Association manager Gary Holmes. "A lot of that pride is reflected in their homes and how they show that. It's like a pair of old slippers that have been well looked after."
Tāmaki is among the 20 per cent of New Zealand considered the most deprived. Yet the redeveloping Glen Innes, parts of which boast hillside sea views, topped the $1 million median property price mark last year in a leading real estate firm's listings.
In realtor-speak, Glen Innes has the "perfect mix" of location - it's just 15 minutes from the city centre - transport, community amenities and housing options.
Around 300 houses have been demolished in the Tāmaki regeneration project and 359 new homes have been built, of which 129 are state homes, 172 are private market and 58 are "affordable" homes. The increased housing density leaves large areas awaiting construction.
The Tāmaki Redevelopment Company is the Government- and Auckland-Council-owned parent organisation which has taken over the regeneration. Its subsidiaries manage state tenancies and help people find work and the company has developed a master plan for the new community.
Chief executive John Holyoake said legal challenges such as Rauti's were rare.
"In the last 18 months we have moved about 150 families from one house to another. We've had to exercise a legal experience three times in that process.
"We sit down with them 12 months before they have to move. We start talking to them, what that's going to look like, what the opportunities for them are, when they are going to be moving. We support them through that move.
"We now have people saying, 'Can I move fast. Can I get out quicker. These warm, dry houses look pretty awesome - the kids in those houses don't get sick any more.
"It's not about forcing people out of houses. It's about working with them."
He emphasised the company's guarantee that Tāmaki state tenants who were moved to a new home could choose to stay in Tāmaki and, "wherever possible", within their current neighbourhood.
"The mood of the community has changed significantly in the last three years and that is because of all these things we are doing. There is nothing like word of mouth of getting 200 people into employment every year in this community … [People think], 'This isn't bad; this change is good'."
The redevelopment company insists that its partners, including building firms, hire locals first if suitable people can be found who want the work. Eleven people have started apprenticeships in recent months.
Holyoake said his company's job-help division has struck success, particularly among the traditionally hardest to reach people.
"We've got people that are second and third generation beneficiaries. We've got an example of a family, a really large family where none of them have ever worked in their lives; now we've got … at least 10 people out of that family into employment."
Chris Makoare, chairman of the Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Local Board, wants it made easier for people in the area to buy "affordable" homes.
"It seems the current community has missed a golden opportunity to get out of state housing and into home ownership," Makoare said.
He noted that with the open-market sale of many new homes, "a new type of community member is coming into the area".
This posed challenges and new arrivals could risk alienating themselves.
"For those thinking of buying into the community the advice I would give would be to have patience and understanding and you will find a very enriching community that will support you more than you think."
In the Glen Innes town centre, the redevelopment company owns the residential site opposite the police station at the northeastern corner of Line Rd and Taniwha St. It plans to have a multi-storey building erected there, with retail and possibly health services on the ground floor and apartments above.
The Glen Innes Business Association believes this development will be a catalyst for improving the town centre.
Another keenly sought catalyst is a bridge from the train station over Apirana Ave to the shops, which association manager Gary Holmes said would give new retailers the confidence to move in.
"At the moment the connection between the station and the town centre is via a pedestrian crossing or the underpass. The underpass has been quite dark, dingy and unsafe. It's not pleasant to walk under and we have pushed for its closure."
Auckland Transport said it is "looking at the possibility" of closing the underpass and replacing it with a bridge whose design details and cost are not yet known.
"The preferred option is a wide footbridge that could serve as a shared path linking the town centre to the new walking/cycling network and provide safe access to the train station, meaning the two pedestrian level crossings in the area can be closed."
Tamati Patuwai lives in the house in Fenchurch St, Glen Innes that has been in the ownership of his whānau for decades. It stands out like a bold beacon against the new housing nearby. His sister lives next door in an old-style state house.
"When I knew this was all going to happen and Fenchurch was the first street to be wiped out, I went, 'I'm going to paint the house bright green. It was [previously] fawn tinged with green."
He describes the move as a "discordance in the cacophony" going on around him. In March, artists Charles and Janine Williams painted a series of tūī and other objects on the house which represent Patuwai, his wife, their children and his sister.
Three generations of his family before him lived in Glen Innes. His parents worked hard and in the 1980s bought from the Government the house he and his family live in. Developers have offered to buy it.
"This is our home and we are pretty committed to our home as a family space, not as an economic investment."
Patuwai, who heads a trust that works in community cohesion and wellbeing, said the suburb's rapid changes have been traumatic.
"Many kids I grew up with and started to parent with have gone. Elders have gone. Children my kids grew up with have gone."
He said the key change needed in Glen Innes is the devolving of decision-making "and empowering that with resources to residents and the community".
• Population - 4437
• Ethnicity
- Pacific peoples - 45
- European - 39.6
- Māori - 19.7
- Asian - 10.2
- Middle Eastern, Latin American, African - 1.5
- Other - 0.8
• Median income for people aged 15 or older - $19,700
• Home ownership rate - 39.9 per cent
• Median estimated property value in August 2018 (all Glen Innes) - about $988,000
Sources: Census 2013; Herald Insights/CoreLogic
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