Housing charity Habitat for Humanity has opened a 10-home development in central Kerikeri — its biggest community housing project to date in Northland.

The development consists of nine two-bedroom homes, and one with three bedrooms, next door to the BP service station on Kerikeri Rd.

While the $6 million-plus project is by far Habitat’s biggest investment to date in the North, it won’t be for long.

The community housing provider has just started work on a 23-home, $12m development in the Whangārei suburb of Maunu.

The Kerikeri project, named Te Arapū, was formally opened on Friday by Habitat’s northern region chief executive Conrad LaPointe and blessed by local hapū Ngāti Rēhia and Far North Mayor Moko Tepania.

The opening of Habitat’s Kerikeri housing complex comes amid a flurry of new social housing projects in the North, following a long period in which the number of public homes in the region shrank significantly.

At the same time, need has soared due to factors such as skyrocketing property prices and a growing population.

Another social housing project, planned by Kāinga Ora (formerly Housing New Zealand) on Clark Rd, on the other side of Kerikeri’s town centre, has sparked controversy in recent weeks.

Some of that is due to concerns about density, lagging public infrastructure and Kāinga Ora’s record as a landlord. One objector at a public meeting last month reportedly told the developers to “take your slum somewhere else”.

LaPointe, however, challenged anyone who believed Habitat was building a slum to take a look at the new homes for themselves.

“There are people in this town who are in housing need. These are people who have lived in this area for generations. They are people who work here, or they are single mothers who just need some stability so they can start seeking jobs, because living in transitional housing does not give you the stability to do that,” he said.

“I’ve heard comments that organisations like ourselves are building the next slum. I challenge those people to look at this development. They will see these houses are a really positive addition to the housing stock of this town.”

At about 85 square metres, the homes were bigger than required, and build quality was “way over” the traditional specs for public housing, LaPointe said.

The location had been chosen because it would give residents easy access to shops, schools, doctors and workplaces, and allow them to become part of the community.

The organisation had been saving for some time to build the Kerikeri complex because it wanted to make a statement about quality, location and the needs that would be addressed, LaPointe said.

Meanwhile, Tepania said he was thrilled 10 families would be given a new beginning in the centre of “our flashest town”, an easy walk’s distance from shops and schools.

The Far North was playing catch-up on housing and building consents, so he supported anything that would give tamariki [children] and taitamariki [youth] somewhere they could call home.

Tepania reflected on his own childhood, which he said was “beautiful” despite his parents’ relative poverty.

They couldn’t afford a home in Whangārei, so they saved hard and eventually bought a home in Hikurangi.

The stability that came with growing up in a family home set him on the path that led him to become the mayor of the Far North, he said.

The complex has been developed by Gemscott, the same company behind the Clark Rd proposal, and built by Platinum Homes.

Habitat will continue to own and manage the 10 duplex townhouses under a 25-year contract to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, to make sure people were being taken off the public housing waiting list.

Tenants would be chosen by “referral partners” such as Kāinga Ora, the Ministry of Social Development, Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi, Te Rūnanga o Whaingaroa, Ngāti Hine Health Trust and local community trust Kairos.

In February, the Government revealed it had bought a 3.3-hectare site between Hall Rd, Ranui Ave and Mill Lane in Kerikeri for a 56-lot housing development. At least 30 per cent of the homes will be set aside for social or affordable housing.

Other community housing projects are planned, or already under way, in locations including Kaikohe, Kawakawa and Whangārei.