Te Pu is the largest and newest building. Wellington City Council chief planning officer Liam Hodgetts said it opened at the end of March and is currently 75 per cent full.
“We are happy with the progress over such a short time. We are continuing to advertise actively and we’re receiving lots of interest.”
The other buildings are sitting at 94 per cent and 90 per cent occupancy.
Hodgetts said the occupancy rate of the apartments was expected to move up and down.
One issue was that there was “huge demand” for one-bedroom apartments but less interest in the two and three-bedroom apartments, he said.
An upcoming Environment and Infrastructure Committee meeting agenda said reaching full occupancy for Te Pu was a current focus. It’s hoped this will be achieved by December.
The documents also said: “The council is not immune to the current economic challenges within the housing market and is considering refreshing the Te Kāinga programme settings to ensure effective delivery can continue.”
An “update and review” of Te Kāinga is being held behind closed doors in a public-excluded part of the committee meeting, which is being held today.
Hodgetts confirmed the 1000-unit target was still in place but noted this was in a challenging inflationary and lending environment.
Environment and Infrastructure Committee deputy chairman councillor Tim Brown said he didn’t think there was any possibility of meeting the target.
Brown also said a fourth building will come online in November this year but there was not a fifth deal under way.
“You’d expect that if they were looking at doing 1000 by 2026 there would be more in the pipeline, but the pipeline is going to be dry come November,” he said.
“Clearly the programme has run out of puff.”
Brown said there has been a “pause” of sorts in Te Kāinga with a new council official heading up the programme and different councillors in charge after local body elections, all of whom have had to spend time getting across the programme’s strengths and weaknesses.
This pause has meant other organisations have beaten the council to it, like Kāinga Ora - which has purchased two buildings that were effectively in the queue for Te Kāinga, Brown said.
Brown doubted there would be enough bids from developers to achieve the target, let alone being able to physically get the work done with the project as it stands.
He expected councillors will ask officials to refine a plan to improve Te Kāinga at today’s committee meeting and report back to them in a couple of months.
“I would hope that after this meeting we can put a bit more petrol back in the tank and see things move forward a bit more quickly, but we’re not going to get to 1000 in three years,” Brown said.
The apartments are for people on medium to lower incomes who may otherwise find it difficult to find a home in the city.
This includes people working in the public sector, public transport, hospitality, tourism, healthcare, education, the arts, start-ups, and Māori organisations.
People on incomes under $95,000 for an individual and $150,000 for a couple or family are eligible.
Rent increases are kept to a minimum and only to ensure the programme continues to have no impact on ratepayers.
This means the apartments remain more affordable than private market rentals over time, giving tenants added financial certainty as well as security of tenure.
