The Premium Debate: Kāinga Ora developments in Rotorua - future slums or vital housing?

Land in Owhata Rd to be developed by Kāinga Ora. Photo / Andrew Warner

OPINION

Kāinga Ora has spent more than $4.6 million buying two more pieces of land in Rotorua that will provide up to 80 houses for the homeless. Neighbours of the land have mixed views, with some worried about gangs moving and the developments eventually becoming "slums" and others welcoming the desperately needed new homes.

Hi Rotorua, I feel sorry for you guys. The government ruined your tourism town and now setting you up as their go-to place for the homeless to live.
Paul E

Have the people of Rotorua not been punished enough already? What an economic and cultural treasure it was in the past. A real showcase for the country, to all of us, and the overseas tourists. Now an economic and social wasteland. What 4-5 years of a Labour government can do...
Alexander G

Reply to Alexander G: It really is successive Governments on both sides kicking the can down the road hoping for the best. Ponzi politics.
Graeme S

You would have thought the Govt would have learned from the "stick them in a motel" experiment. I feel sorry for the people of Rotorua who have now had two years of this failed experiment and the consequences. It will, along with the "motel model", kill Rotorua tourism. These failed policies just continue from this Government.
Guy M

Where they build them is only part of the issue, the real issue is the subsequent mismanagement of the tenants by KO once some of them inevitably start causing issues.
Darren M

Throwing in these people together will create a slum. Concentrated poverty and all the problems it brings from these types of housing projects are well known.
James S

Excellent idea, but Kāinga Ora needs to make it clear to the new residents that antisocial behaviour (especially threats to local residents) will mean they lose their new house and are offered a place in one of the isolated surrounding villages away from drugs and the gangs.
John H

A typical not-in-my-back-yard person here. I live within 300m of the larger development. That land was advertised by the seller as being approved for 40 sections. Sixty houses is ridiculous for that paddock. I won't feel as safe in my local community when it's constructed.
Bd B

We all know super high-density housing built with good intentions turns into crime-filled, gang-related ghettos. People and families need space and only the ones that can't go anywhere else will remain there after everyone else moves on.
Max R

Make them rent-to-buy, with the Government initially holding some equity to make them comparable to a reasonable rent being paid. It would be both an asset and a liability on the Government balance sheet. This would enable those already renting to get onto the property ladder and give them and their families security and pride in homeownership and hopefully give them some certainty around education and school continuity without constantly having to move. And it frees up rental stock for others.
Mary G

To assume all homeless people are anti-social riffraff isn't fair. Many are families just can't find affordable accommodation in these tough times. As long as they build what is needed, and that's three- and four-bedroom family homes. Please don't build a bunch of one- and two-bedroom, small - sorry, 'cosy' - townhouses. Build real homes with real space for real people to live, thrive, and build a home.
Kylie T

It seems that Kāinga Ora can't win with NZ Herald readers. If it seeks to build new homes, the commentators say it's a waste of time. Yet those same commentators moan about emergency housing in motels. It sounds like you're happy to have high levels of homeless families and the very rough downstream impact of that on our society. Leaving it to "the market" to provide affordable homes has never worked, judging by the high numbers of damp, mouldy, cold houses in the rental stock prior to Healthy Homes being brought in.
Evan B

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