Far North Holdings explains public housing plans in Hikurangi

Hikurangi locals questioned Far North Holdings CEO Andy Nocks at a public meeting this week about plans for social housing in town. Photo / Tania Whyte

A council-controlled trading organisation says it won’t pursue public housing in central Hikurangi if the community is opposed to the plan.

Far North Holdings chief executive Andy Nock said this at a public meeting at the packed Hikurangi Memorial Hall on Monday evening to discuss FNHL’s resource consent application, lodged with the Whangarei District Council, to build 16 single-bedroom community housing units.

The land, owned by a local, at Hikurangi Village on King St, backs onto a primary school and neighbours the Hikurangi Hotel.

Locals, including the Hikurangi Business Association, are opposed to the site being used for compact housing units, which they said was not in line with the agreed vision for development in the area under the Hikurangi Placemaking Plan 2020/21.

They aren’t against community housing as such.

Nock told the locals on Monday FNHL was still going through due diligence, which was why now was a good time for discussion.

“If you don’t want it, we won’t do it. We don’t own the site, we haven’t purchased it.”

Nock said the development would be smaller than initially planned and was “purely a concept at this stage”.

A person in the crowd asked Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo why his council was not doing community housing and bringing funding back into the district.

“You are actually asking something which our discussion we had with the Far North Holdings the other week, and that is exactly what our council is looking at … setting up ourselves,” he replied.

Cocurullo said WDC did pensioner housing, not social housing.

Hikurangi local Alex Smits said locals have no issues with social housing but it was about where.

He said WDC has said Hikurangi was a growth node and has a number of development sites, but how was it going to service that from a commercial perspective if social housing was put up on the main street?

“If you had done your homework and read the Placemaking Plan, we wouldn’t even be sitting here.

“We care enough about our community that we even employ a community development officer to help grow aspects of the Placemaking Plan. So why would we then fill up the main street with social housing?” he asked.

“We shouldn’t be coming in, no disrespect, from outside the district and trying to impose this type of development, which doesn’t make sense for the main street.

“It’s not about commercial return for us, it’s about sustainable smart development for Hikurangi,” he said.

The proposed 16 units will be arranged in two, two-storey blocks. Block A will front King St and Block B will be at the rear. Each block will have eight units - four at ground level and four on the first floor.

FNHL will then lease the buildings to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for about 25 years to provide community housing.