Kāinga Ora has scrapped 131 proposed homes in Whanganui after a financial viability review. Photo / NZME
More than 100 homes have been wiped from Kāinga Ora’s proposed housing map in Whanganui as financial pressure and housing needs compete.
In September 2024, 138 proposed Kāinga Ora homes in Whanganui were subject to a Government-mandated review. As a result, there are now seven proposed homes.
rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/pm-christopher-luxon-announces-kainga-ora-changes-new-board-refresh-kiwbuild-to-be-scrapped/WJJQFZKUTRAUXMHBICWJBK24W4/">During the review, led by former Prime Minister Bill English, more than 400 Kāinga Ora housing projects were reassessed.
They included 11 in Whanganui, where nine were in the planning stages. Two - at 32 Delhi Ave and 101-103 Puriri St - already had resource consent.
It is expected that the turnaround plan adopted by the Government after English’s review will result in 1900 to 2000 Kāinga Ora construction projects a year and a loss of 900 houses a year to sales or demolition.
In the past two years, 13 Kāinga Ora homes have been built in Whanganui, taking the total from 584 to 597. In March, none of those properties was vacant or ready to let.
The district has 210 people currently on the housing register. More than half (135) need a one-bedroom home, of which there are only 87.
A majority of Whanganui’s existing Kāinga Ora rental properties, and the seven new ones, are two-bedroom.
It had been proposed to build four one-bedroom and three two-bedroom homes, but this month the one-bedrooms were changed to two-bedrooms because of “cost-effectiveness”.
Whanganui MP Carl Bates said this week: “Kāinga Ora runs as an independent agency, and they’ve got to respond to the demands of local communities. One of the challenges is providing the right mix of housing.
“Optimising the plans and having a simplified standard design is part of the way the Government’s been achieving cost-effective builds and providing a better return across the builds it’s been doing, and changing to the two-bedrooms across all the units achieved those outcomes.”
Whanganui district councillor Kate Joblin, who holds the housing and homelessness portfolio, said the Whanganui People’s Centre reported “an extreme shortage of one-bedroom properties”.
“Whanganui is facing challenges in housing supply, in that we don’t have enough, and affordability. Our ageing population will only make this worse,” she said.
However, Kāinga Ora’s regional director for Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatū suggested the cancelled projects might not be completely or permanently scrapped.
Graeme Broderick said: “The other projects in Whanganui that were previously under assessment are not proceeding as originally planned.
“However, we are considering other options for these sites, which may include reworked plans or divestment.
“Future decisions on these sites will be made as part of our renewals programme, where we are prioritising improving our existing homes, ensuring they are in the right locations and are suitable for our tenants.”
The programme includes selling unsuitable and unviable housing and land owned by the agency, and renovating existing properties.
According to its website, Kāinga Ora aims to complete 11,500 renewals by the 2030 financial year and renew all pre-1986 homes within 30 years.
Joblin was also positive about some of the alternative housing organisations in Whanganui.
“It is a real shame that Kāinga Ora are not proceeding with their proposed new homes. However, there are some other groups with projects that will help solve our housing crisis,” she said.
“I am referring to the Tupoho development at Cross St, the Anglican Church housing projects, First Rung Charitable Trust and Te Ao Hou Marae housing project. These projects are just awesome in getting our community more warm, affordable housing.
“Whanganui People’s Centre are having some success in helping people sustain their tenancies. They do this by working alongside them to help those tenants manage what are often very complex issues by providing wraparound support.”
Bates said the overall reduction in proposed Kāinga Ora projects, locally and nationally, was the result of a realistic analysis of the previous Government’s “overpromising”.
“[The proposed projects] were an unfunded wish list that Labour had committed to the electorate.”
Labour housing spokesman Kieran McAnulty responded that the coalition Government needed to take accountability for its role in social housing shortages.
“It seems that the National Party MPs have one answer and that’s, regardless of what the question is, to blame Labour. It’s about time that they took responsibility for their own decisions.
“It’s a weak argument that doesn’t stack up - houses were being built, they made cuts, houses now aren’t being built, people are homeless and people have lost their jobs. It’s as simple as that.”
There was justification for the large number of proposed Kāinga Ora homes before the review, he said.
“The reason that the number was at the level that it was is because, like elsewhere in the country, the need for housing in Whanganui is massive.”
In June 2023, there were 310,000 jobs in the sector, seasonally adjusted. As of June this year, that had fallen to 294,000.
“The impact on the community also extends to economic impacts,” McAnulty said.
“When [the Government] are cancelling houses to the tune of 3500 across the country, that has had a massive impact on the amount of work that tradies are getting.”
Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.