NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Addison: the model Auckland housing development which became a crime hotspot

Isaac Davison
By Isaac Davison
Senior Reporter·NZ Herald·
15 Feb, 2020 04:00 PM7 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Addison was Auckland's first experiment in medium density housing. Photograph by Michael Craig

Addison was Auckland's first experiment in medium density housing. Photograph by Michael Craig

An Auckland neighbourhood was carefully designed from scratch to make it as safe, friendly and functional as possible. So how did it become a car-cluttered suburb with one of the highest burglary rates in the country?

Nu'umoe Collins had never heard of Addison when she moved there in 2015.

The mini-suburb sandwiched between Takanini and Ardmore airport in South Auckland appeared to be an attractive spot.

It was close to her recruitment job in Manurewa and her daughter's netball training. Its relatively new, modern homes and pretty, tree-lined streets contrasted with the surrounding suburbs.

But Collins remembers Addison for another reason. In three years, burglars broke into her rental property twice and her car once.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I still find it hard to talk about the actual break-ins," she said. "The impact is still prevalent."

She wondered whether she was just unlucky. But her brother-in-law, who lived a block away, also had his house broken into. Then a police officer investigating one of her break-ins gave her some alarming news.

"He said that the area probably had the highest number of break-ins nationwide," she said. "I thought they were joking."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
The Auckland suburb of Addison is nearing completion, but it's problems are ongoing. Photo / Michael Craig
The Auckland suburb of Addison is nearing completion, but it's problems are ongoing. Photo / Michael Craig

Addison, which is nearing completion, was Auckland's first experiment in medium-density housing, and was once described by a Government department as a model for the rest of the country to follow.

Construction on its 1200 homes began in 2003 and included a number of experimental design features for the time including narrow roads, rear lanes, and "pocket parks" - many of them ideas borrowed from chic neighbourhoods in Melbourne.

But those design features, combined with several other factors, had some unfortunate consequences. According to a new report published by Auckland Council's research unit, the features created a neighbourhood in which it was "relatively easy to commit crimes".

Council planners and developers are now being urged not to make the same mistakes in new developments - and to check whether similar neighbourhoods have the same problems.

Discover more

New Zealand

Landlords charging $300 a night to house homeless

30 Sep 04:00 PM
New Zealand

Govt the 'golden egg' for housing investors

06 Oct 04:00 PM
New Zealand

Changing face of Auckland: Swathes of state housing coming to a suburb near you

29 Nov 10:00 PM

In Addison, burglaries and car break-ins became so common by 2018 that police contacted Auckland Council, frustrated by the amount of resourcing the area was swallowing up.

Part of the problem was its location, an intelligence report compiled by police said. It was a relatively affluent suburb surrounded by poorer ones, and was seen as an "attractive target" for criminal activity.

But the situation was worsened by some of the development's urban design features.

Rear lanes made it easier for criminals to break in without being detected. The network of narrow streets filled with parked cars made it difficult for emergency services to quickly access properties or lock the neighbourhood down. And large, unmaintained oak trees had grown to obscure street lights, making surveillance difficult.

The 1200-house development is expected to be completed this year. Photograph by Michael Craig
The 1200-house development is expected to be completed this year. Photograph by Michael Craig

Strict rules introduced by the Addison Residents Society also played a role, the research unit's report said. A ban on front fences and audible alarms, which were meant to foster community and make it easier to live side-by-side, actually made homes more vulnerable to break-ins.

The covenants put in place by the society were enforced with warning letters and $100 fines.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"That was the worst thing about Addison - they policed the parking more than they policed the crime," Collins said.

A survey of Addison residents found most had either been a victim of a crime, knew a victim, or had observed a crime. One unnamed woman quoted in the report said a gang member had walked straight in her front door when she was home alone with a baby.

"So now my partner is staying ... because I'm too scared to sleep in the house by myself even with my freshly-sharpened tomahawk," she said.

Developer David McConnell, whose firm led construction of Addison, said the finding that design features in Addison had contributed to the crime rate was "subjective".

He believed a suburb in a similar location with different design rules was likely to have a comparable crime rate.

The council's research unit noted that they did not have intelligence reports for surrounding suburbs so could not make a direct comparison.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Addison also suffered from other problems. When construction began in 2003, the plans included a train station and a large shopping centre. But the global financial crisis between 2007 and 2009 meant neither went ahead.

READ MORE:
• 'Lock and leave' apartments blamed for high number of empty homes in Auckland CBD
• Premium - National blames 'state house for life' policy for growing waiting list. Officials say it's not that simple
• Premium - Community Housing Providers say more than 500 homes 'gathering dust' during housing crisis
• Government is building more public houses than any time in the last 20 years. But the queue for them keeps getting longer

That led to a car-dependent neighbourhood in which people had to drive just to get a bottle of milk. The signature narrow streets were clogged with cars, and parking spilled over on to berms and driveways. Motorists got stuck behind the rubbish truck for 10 minutes in the morning.

"There appears to be a disjoint between the original intent of the urban design and the realities of residents' use of and dependence on cars and other vehicles," the council researchers said.

With medium and high-density neighbourhoods now springing up all over Auckland, police have pleaded with council not to replicate some of Addison's problematic design features. The research unit's report also recommended that council undertake further work on designing rear lanes and private streets.

Addison was meant to have its own train station and shopping centre. But both were scrapped because of the GFC, and the site for the shopping centre is a vacant lot. Photograph / Michael Craig
Addison was meant to have its own train station and shopping centre. But both were scrapped because of the GFC, and the site for the shopping centre is a vacant lot. Photograph / Michael Craig

One of the researchers, Anna Jennings, said the factors that led to Addison's high crime rate were unique to the area. But some of the problems around parking and mobility in Addison had been replicated in other housing developments, most notably in Hobsonville Point, she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And unlike 20 years ago, planning in Auckland is more sophisticated and developers often consult with Auckland Transport, the Ministry of Education and district health boards to make sure all needs are met.

Despite Addison's flaws, many residents still spoke warmly of their neighbourhood. Those who had stayed were willing to trade off concerns about crime with the area's sense of community and convenience to the motorway system. In the last year, crime rates had fallen, and a survey of Addison residents showed a strong majority felt safe in their homes and walking the streets.

"I'm still really proud of the development," McConnell said. "I think the residents generally do love living there, and that's the real test."

Jenning said that based on the police report, they had been expecting to find a dysfunctional suburb.

"But we were really surprised by how lovely it is, just from the site visits when we walked through. The amazing tree coverage, and when we started talking to people, how much they liked living there."

Large, overgrown oak trees in Addison's streets were found to have make it harder for residents to watch their cars or detect break-ins. Photo / Auckland Council
Large, overgrown oak trees in Addison's streets were found to have make it harder for residents to watch their cars or detect break-ins. Photo / Auckland Council

On the day the Herald on Sunday visited, the last cluster of homes in the development were under construction. A sign on the street said: "Addison: Lived in and Loved Since 2003".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A few blocks away, the original site for the abandoned shopping centre remained a vacant, overgrown lot. The laneways occasionally felt cramped - a late-model Mercedes whizzed down a side-street just centimetres from parked cars' wing mirrors.

There were glimpses of the designers' original vision for Addison. In the leafy, narrow streets away from the main road, three children biked in a pocket park, giggling and shouting. A family sheltered from the searing February sun under a large oak tree.

Vika Prakash, who moved to the neighbourhood nine years ago, said she was surprised by reports of Addison's high crime rate. Papakura, where she used to live, was far worse, she said: "I got fed up with naughty children stealing my pot plants."

Addison's open design made it a social neighbourhood, Prakash said. The closely-spaced homes and absence of front fences meant mingling between neighbours was common.

"We go across the road for Christmas and they come here for Diwali. They like the sweets and the firecrackers."

She recalls that she once had the number plates stolen from her car outside her Addison home. But she still felt safe, noting that a neighbourhood security guard came past every two hours at night.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I feel I've come to a safer place," she said. "And I think I'll stay here."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey briefed on death of Auckland baby

03 Jul 06:21 AM
New Zealand

$1 million Ferrari hits man's prized Honda Civic

New Zealand

Smokefreerockquest Showquest Nelson Final

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey briefed on death of Auckland baby

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey briefed on death of Auckland baby

03 Jul 06:21 AM

A baby's body was found in a wheelie bin on Renall St in Freemans Bay, Auckland.

$1 million Ferrari hits man's prized Honda Civic

$1 million Ferrari hits man's prized Honda Civic

Smokefreerockquest Showquest Nelson Final

Smokefreerockquest Showquest Nelson Final

Premium
Court holds forestry directors accountable for environmental compliance

Court holds forestry directors accountable for environmental compliance

03 Jul 06:00 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP