Chris Hipkins has made his first public appearance as Prime Minister in Northland by attending a multi-million-dollar housing announcement in Kerikeri.

The Government revealed on Friday afternoon it had bought a 3.3ha site between Hall Rd, Ranui Ave and Mill Lane which will be developed for a mix of medium and high-density housing.

The 56-lot development is not new — it was reported on by the Advocate in June last year — but what is new is the change of ownership, with the Government buying the already-consented site from businessman Sir Owen Glenn.

Housing Minister Megan Woods told a gathering of officials, Government ministers, hapū and locals that at least 30 per cent of the two- and three-bedroom homes would be set aside for social or affordable housing.

“Kerikeri, like other parts of the region, has experienced rapid growth in recent years creating high housing need,” she said.

“This purchase provides a marvellous opportunity to do something significant to ramp up supply quickly, as it’s one of very few development-ready sites within the Far North.”

The homes are expected to be ready in early 2025.

Council-owned company Far North Holdings is managing the project, which will include new link roads between Ranui Ave, Hall Rd and Mill Lane.

Woods also announced $10.3 million for transport upgrades in Whangārei she said would unlock 160ha of greenfield land, allowing up to 3000 new homes on multiple sites around the city.

Up to 1000 of those could be built in the next 10 to 15 years with the rest in the longer term.

The money, from the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, would pay for projects such as replacing a single-lane timber bridge on Kamo’s Gillingham Rd which has stalled development plans in the area, and a new roundabout and arterial road in Springs Flat.

Woods said 206 public homes had been built in Northland by Kāinga Ora and community housing providers between October 2017 and December 2022.

That compared to a drop of 98 public homes between 2009 and 2017 in the Far North alone, she said.

In his first public speech of the Waitangi commemorations, Hipkins paid tribute to the late Ngāpuhi matriarch Titewhai Harawira, and emphasised the need to improve the housing conditions of many Northlanders.

“It doesn’t get much more fundamental than having a roof over your head,” he said.

Hipkins wrapped up the formalities by using a digger, after a brief training session, to symbolically start earthworks for the new development.

A number of Ranui Ave residents were invited to join the event after they spotted the flurry of dignitaries arriving on their normally quiet street.

Some told the Advocate they were concerned by the extra traffic the new through-road would generate; others were unhappy they hadn’t been told the Government had taken over what had been a private development.

Ben Dalton, deputy chief executive of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, acknowledged the change would have come as a surprise to local residents.

He promised to talk to people in the surrounding streets in the next few weeks.

The announcement was also attended by ministers Kelvin Davis, Kiri Allan, Willow-Jean Prime and Marama Davidson, Whangārei MP Emily Henderson, Far North and Whangārei mayors Moko Tepania and Vince Cocorullo, and Northland Regional Council chairwoman Tui Shortland.