Kainga Ora houses in Maraenui, Napier broken into, police investigating

Napier City councillor Sally Crown talked about how great the new builds at Kelvin Place would be to relieve housing crisis pressure. Photo / Warren Buckland

Five Hawke's Bay families are living in emergency housing, and waiting to move into their new Kāinga Ora homes, following a break-in at new builds in Kelvin Place, Maraenui, Napier.

A Kāinga Ora spokeswoman said the organisation was made aware of a break-in on September 26, the night before the houses were blessed by local kaumatua and whānau were to move in.

"Five homes, of the 13 new homes, were broken into and furnishings were removed," she said.

She said the break-ins were "very disappointing" for Kāinga Ora who built the houses and Emerge Aotearoa who would provide wraparound support for whānau who live in them.

"There are now five whanau who have not yet moved into their new, warm dry home.

"They are still in living in emergency housing waiting until new locks have been fitted and the homes secured."

Police are investigating the break-ins.

The 13 homes completed last month in Kelvin Place are all public housing.

They were initially being used to meet the urgent demand for transitional housing.

Transitional housing provides people in urgent need of housing with a safe place to live while they receive wraparound support services and help to find a more permanent place to live.

They are 13 of 33 new family homes Kāinga Ora is building across three sites in Maraenui to get Hawke's Bay people out of emergency accommodation and into a home.

The homes were built by Hawke's Bay Construction and leased from Kainga Ora by non-government organisation Emerge Aotearoa, and are in Kelvin Place in the suburb of Maraenui.

Pictured is one of the new builds at Kelvin Place, not of the homes broken into. Photo / Paul Taylor

They add to 10 other new homes which were opened about four years ago.

The latest two- to four-bedroom homes are initially being used to meet what the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development says is an urgent need for transitional housing.

Designed for family living, they were meant to accommodate more than 50 people, all coming directly from emergency motel accommodation and including children attending schools in the area.

Special features of the Kelvin Pl housing are the efforts which have been made to place families connected with the area, especially those with children at Richmond or Maraenui Bi-Lingual schools, while Emerge Aotearoa, with its "skilled navigators", will be in weekly contact with the households helping them get back on their feet.

Currently there are 768 people on the housing register in Napier.