Hastings was promised 200 new homes in two years. After one year, 12 have been built

Kotrio Hawaikirangi with her two-year-old son Keretau Pitman. She lived in a motel but now lives in a papakainga. Photo / RNZ - Tom Kitchin

By Tom Kitchin of RNZ

Just 12 houses of a promised 200 that are meant to get homeless people in Hastings out of motels have so far been finished.

Last year the government announced a special project for the city to help limit the numbers in motels and promised the new houses by the middle of next year.

But Covid-19 put them on the backburner, as the wait list continues to rise.

Kotiro Hawaikirangi used to live in a motel. She believed she was lucky, but her struggle to get a home was not easy.

A few years ago, she spent three "dreadful" months living in a motel with her partner and six children.

"Every week we had to pack our stuff, everything we owned in the motel had to be packed up - our food, our clothes, everything we had taken in there had to be pulled out, put into our vehicle and we just had to hope we got the same place every week. You're not guaranteed one place the whole duration you need temporary living."

Now, she has moved into a papakainga, a group of houses where whānau live together, in Waiohiki - close to Napier but in the Hastings district.

"It's home - I see across my road, that's my marae across the road, my kids go to that kohanga reo right across the road. My mum lives four houses away."

Hastings has one of the highest rates of people on the housing register, per capita, across New Zealand.

Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga are building Waingakau village in Flaxmere. Photo / RNZ

Many people are waiting for a house like Hawaikirangi's.

Hastings District Council chief executive To'osavili Nigel Bickle said there were 1400 members of the Napier and Hastings community that call motels home.

The government set an ambitious "place-based approach" project in place last year for the first time in the country - addressing issues at a neighbourhood level.

The short term aim was to build 200 homes by mid 2021.

But so far, Kainga Ora's business development director Darren Toy said only 12 new homes had been built.

In a statement, Toy said there had been no building activity for nearly two months, as Covid-19 alert levels put a stop to work.

That pushed out the deadline until the end of next year. But Kainga Ora is still hoping 68 new homes will be built by the end of 2020.

In four years the housing register for Hastings has almost tripled. It has gone from about two hundred applicants in 2016 to more than 550 in June this year.

Ngati Kahungunu chief executive Chrissie Hape said there was still willingness to finish the project.

"Nothing's ever fast enough but unfortunately, we have to go with the capacity that we've got. I am concerned about the people we see on the streets. If you have a look at Hastings and Napier, we've got a lot of people that are homeless.

Last week the government announced a $16m boost for more housing work in Hastings.

This extra cash was on top of $12m already put in by the Hastings District Council.

Part of it would go towards Taiwhenua o Heretaunga Waingākau, a housing development in Flaxmere that would create 50 new homes. It was planned to be a mix of public housing, papakainga and affordable housing on Māori land.

Hastings District councillor in Flaxmere, Henare O'Keefe, appreciated that something's being done, but said it was still tough for many.

"You could build a thousand houses overnight but it still wouldn't be enough. So yes, it is improving but despite our valiant efforts, there are still people that, as we speak, are basically homeless."