Kāinga Ora has come under fire over plans to undertake arguably Northland’s largest social housing development without consulting nearby residents and a retirement village.

Kāinga Ora has signed a development agreement in place with
Soho Group for the design and construction of 55 new public houses at the Tikipunga Tavern site on Wanaka St, worth about $32.9 million.

Whangārei District Council last month issued a resource consent to Soho Development Company No. 1 Limited and civil work is expected to start at the end of this year.

Delivery of the houses is expected around mid 2024.

The development will include 55 one-to-three bedroom homes across three level walk-up apartments and terraced housing, a multi-purpose community room for residents, shared green space, play area, bike shed and a looped access with carparking.

There will be two three-story walk-up apartment blocks containing 24 two-bedroom and 12 one-bedroom apartments. Three two-storey apartment blocks with four three-bedroom and 15 two-bedroom terrace style apartments will also be built.

Since the development is categorised as discretionary under council rules, the resource consent application need not be publicly notified but residents directly opposite the tavern and a retirement village said they would have appreciated being told about it.

“We were not consulted on the development, it’s not a legal requirement but we would have appreciated a call of course,” Summerset Group Holdings head of communications Logan Mudge said.

He said the retirement village only recently found out about the development.

“As a developer ourselves, we work hard to create good relationships with all our neighbours and this development will be no different.

”This ensures that if issues ever arise we can work through them together in the best interests of our residents.”

Kāinga Ora on Wednesday this week held an initial drop-in session in Tikipunga for the public to hear more about its housing plans throughout Whangārei.

On concerns around a lack of community consultation, Kāinga Ora regional director for Northland Jeff Murray said: “We will keep our stakeholders and neighbours updated about our developments in the coming months as part of our usual engagement processes”.

A 90-year-old resident on Wanaka St said he and his neighbours have heard a private developer from Auckland was buying the Tikipunga Tavern site for a residential development.

“These social houses look new in the start but they don’t stay like that for long. It’s not just the type of people they put in there but there are also the hangers on.

“We don’t need that. This is a high-density area. I’ve driven to Puriri Park Rd and seen those new social houses there and I now understand why residents on that road are upset,” he said.

A female pensioner said she dreaded developments like social housing threatening the peace and tranquillity of her neighbourhood.

“I am only renting here but we should have been told about it. There’s already enough crap going around here without the state houses.

”I think it’s disgusting they’re going to put those houses across the road from a beautiful retirement village,” she said.

The new Kāinga Ora houses would devalue residential properties on Wanaka and surrounding streets, she said.

A nearby resident who attended the drop-in session said more modern state houses was a great concept but Kāinga Ora needed to give more information around the finer details of their housing plan.

“They are still in a planning stage, based on houses they’ve done in Auckland. They should come back in two to three months with more information about their plans,” he said.

Murray said while existing state houses around Whangārei would continue to be maintained, many of them would require extensive upgrades in future.

“We are looking at where we can replace older public houses with more new homes. We are also working with developers to purchase new homes. This is on top of significantly upgrading a number of our existing public homes.

Including redevelopment of land Kāinga Ora already owns, removal of its existing homes for new ones to be built on those sites and the development on Wanaka St, there will eventually be 240 new builds.

There will be on average three new homes for every one taken down.

Murray said these homes provided easy access to jobs, parks, play areas and services such as schools and hospitals.

“Kāinga Ora could be the first developer to build at this height, and it is likely others will follow. Homes built now will last 50 years or more.”

He said Kāinga Ora has more than 1300 homes in Whangārei and there was high demand for more, particularly smaller, one or two-bedroom homes.

In Tikipunga, Murray said about 780 people lived in public houses in that suburb which constituted about 9 percent of houses in the area.

He said WDC has identified Tikipunga as a high-growth area, with its zoning rules allowing for medium-density development in areas within easy walking distance of parks, shops and services.

WDC also has a Tikipunga Placemaking Plan, which focuses on meeting the demand for housing, amenity and infrastructure, among other things.

“Having this plan in place to support population growth and foster connected communities makes Tikipunga a great place for a mix of housing types, including standalone and duplex dwellings, terraced housing and three-level apartment buildings.”

Resource consents have been approved for four homes on Steere Pl in Tikipunga and 17 on Paramount Parade.

Consent has been lodged for eight homes on Vinegar Hill Rd while an early feasibility study is underway for 25 homes on Balmoral Rd and Townsend Pl, 12 on Thomas St and 21 on Paramount Parade.