Whakatāne will lose out on more than 70 new houses as part of a financial reset by Kāinga Ora.
Projects planned for three sites around Whakatāne township, which were expected to deliver 72 houses, have been cancelled.
Four projects delivering 23 houses to the town are expected to proceed.
Among the cancelled projects is the proposed development of 53 residences on the former Countdown site in Kopeopeo.
Kāinga Ora had proposed building 36 apartments in three-storey buildings on King St and Stewart St, and 17 standalone two-storey homes on Washer Ave.
Another section on King St and a property on the corner of Apanui Ave and Pounama Pl have also been cut from the list of local developments by the housing authority.
In Ōpōtiki, three projects that would have delivered eight houses have been cancelled.
The cuts were announced as part of a push to get Kāinga Ora on a more financially sustainable footing.
Whakatāne Mayor Victor Luca said it was “quite upsetting” that the projects were being cancelled.
“It’s a bit disappointing, but that’s above my pay grade.”
He said there was – and still is – the prospect of Kāinga Ora divesting a couple of properties, like the one on the corner of King St and Stewart St.
“As the mayor, I don’t like to see empty holes in the town. And yet that one has been empty for quite a while.”
While Kāinga Ora was in full flight working on the projects, multiple houses were demolished on the corner of Apanui Ave and Pounama Pl.
Luca said he had dreamed of the section being developed into housing for pensioners.
“We’ve got to try and utilise what we already have in terms of empty spaces.”
Luca said while he could not talk about it in any depth, the council would like to see the empty sections developed, and it was a matter of joining the dots.
“We’re helping, where we can, in doing something about these vacant lots. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to talk too much more about that, but I am very concerned about getting those spaces filled up.”
He said Kāinga Ora owned 500 properties in Whakatāne, with the original plan being that every property removed would be replaced by three more.
“So, they would give us a substantial boost in the number of properties, net 1000, which would have been great.”
With 66% of the district living in Whakatāne township, Luca said intensifying the town from an infrastructure point of view made a lot of sense.
“The pipes are already in the ground, the wastewater system already has 6500 connections, but it’s got the capacity for 18,000.”
The number of new homes delivered by Kāinga Ora in a financial year is dependent on funding allocated by the Government.
Kāinga Ora has funding to add 2650 new homes to the national state housing stock before June next year. Of the 466 projects reviewed, 212 have been cancelled.
They would have provided 3479 homes.
The 254 proceeding projects are expected to add 1821 homes to the state housing stock.
In deciding what projects should proceed, Kāinga Ora prioritised locations where it was being asked to deliver new homes, or where upgrading older homes was a priority.
It also assessed costs and proposed plans for the projects, checking if they still stacked up financially, or if there may be better options for using the site.
Kāinga Ora chief executive Matt Crockett said a review of the organisation’s projects and vacant land holdings was essential in ensuring only projects that made commercial sense continued.
The review also meant that land deemed to be surplus to requirements would be sold. Kāinga Ora intended to sell about 36 hectares – or about one fifth – of its vacant land from around the country.
“Selling this land opens opportunities for others to increase the country’s housing supply,” Crockett said.
“We will hold on to the rest of the land we own for now for possible future development.”
Proceeds from any land sales will either be reinvested in new housing or used to help reduce debt.
“The decisions made because of these reviews allow us to move forward with confidence into the next phase of our reset, but they do require us to make one-off accounting write-downs of between $190 to $220 million.
“The exact figure won’t be known until our end-of-year financial accounts are audited.”
There were 251 people in Whakatāne waiting for public housing at the end of June, 58 fewer than a year ago.
In Ōpōtiki, there were 86 people on the public housing register, compared to 91 a year ago, and Kawerau had 54 people, down from 64.
Kāinga Ora manages 531 public homes in Whakatāne, which was an increase of five compared to last year.