State house owner and manager Housing New Zealand Corporation is work with businesses to develop 23,600 new Auckland residences of which 11,000 will be state houses and the rest affordable, free-market places.
State house owner and manager Housing New Zealand Corporation is working with businesses to develop 23,600 new Auckland residences on state-owned land, of which 11,000 will be new state houses and the rest affordable and free-market places.
In the most radical transformation of the city's state housing, HNZC's Auckland Housing Programme which began in June 2016 is a 10-year joint initiative between the state house provider and a subsidiary of HNZC - HLC (Homes. Land. Community.), a spokesperson for HNZC said.
Big projects are in high-needs areas of Northcote, Avondale, Mt Roskill and Mangere.
HLC was previously called the Hobsonville Land Company and is headed by Chris Aiken, whose work developing 4500 new residences for about 11,000 people Hobsonville has been lauded by Housing Minister Phil Twyford as a the best example of how state land can be used in new ways successfully to increase the city's housing supply.
Aiken said 300 state houses in the North Shore's Northcote were being replaced by 1200 new residences in a $750 million intensification on HNZC land: 400 new residences will be state homes and 400 KiwiBuild homes and 400 affordable free-market homes. HLC is delivering the free-market and KiwiBuild homes, he said.
In Glen Innes, the Tamaki Regeneration Company took over from HNZC in March 2016 when all properties were transformed to the new entity, jointly owned by the Government and Auckland Council. The properties are no longer owned by HNZC. TRC says more 7500 new homes will be built there over the next 15 years.
Dozens of new state houses are being built at Northcote. Photo/Michael Craig
HNZC asset development group general manager Patrick Dougherty described the scale of the Auckland development work.
"Housing New Zealand is making more efficient use of its land to increase the pace and scale of housing supply throughout New Zealand. To this end we're building a variety of housing types and sizes, this includes stand-alone homes, duplexes, two and three-level walk-ups, terraced housing and apartments," Dougherty said.
The Tamaki Regeneration is to transform large areas of land.
"The type of housing planned for a particular property is determined on a site-by-site basis and dependent on a number of factors including demand in that neighbourhood, the nature of the site, planning rules, availability of infrastructure and support services. The Auckland Architecture award-winning redevelopment in Mount Albert is a prime example of this, where we have built in an established suburb and it displays innovative site planning and urban design values," he said.
Aiken of H.L.C. at Northcote, first suburb off the block. Photo/Michael Craig
The plans met strong opposition at Tamaki where protesters tried to stop removal of homes in which some had lived for many years. People lay down in front of trucks and marched, carrying banners saying "We will not be moved" and "House the needy not the greedy", congregating at Tamaki Redevelopment Company's Glen Innes office.
But Dougherty said the transformation was important.
The state house waiting list hit a four-year high in May.
He outlined the 10 largest site projects in Auckland at a fine-grain suburban level as:
• Great North Rd, Waterview where 20 state homes are being developed into 121 residences; • Thom Street, New Lynn (13 are replaced by 82);
