Notification is limited to owners of adjacent properties and infrastructure providers. Those owners may have the opportunity to have their say after an application is lodged - but only if the council considers notification "necessary".
Grant Dickson, who lives opposite the Puroto St site, believes all residents should be notified. "They need to listen to the community and not ignore us. We are trying to get them to allow us to make submissions and for [resource consent] to be notified.
"I live 15m from the development and I don't get a say - how's that fair? They have told me it's a fait accompli - that we can't ... stop it. They are trying to railroad us."
Mr Dickson said the street was home to families and a lot of young children - more residents meant more traffic, which would be dangerous.
"The SHA legislation has stripped the community of any recourse or contribution," he said. "It has really got the community's back up.
"People here have worked pretty hard to develop a sense of community, so to have this slapped on us without letting us make submissions - it's totally unfair.
"The community wants resource consent to be notified and for HNZ to take into account the community's concerns. We are not against HNZ building something which fits the character of the neighbourhood but 14 homes on one site on a no-exit street is too many."
Housing NZ said "all residents" had been contacted via letterbox drop by December 16. The letter included an invitation for residents to contact it directly to arrange a time for representatives to visit, discuss concerns and share indicative plans.
Mr Dickson said he never received that letter personally, but had seen it.
New projects manager Patrick Dougherty confirmed Housing NZ would apply for a resource consent to develop two adjoining sections on Puroto St and Purewa Rd.
It was one of 31 SHAs across Auckland the agency had an interest in. "Our SHAs are generally made up of adjoining large sites featuring single HNZ dwellings," he said.
"This particular SHA currently comprises two two-bedroom and two three-bedroom homes on a combined area of 2590sq m.
"By removing the existing dwellings we can reconfigure this site to accommodate a mix of up to 14 homes that reflect current and future demand in this location.
"Better utilising our land within these SHAs allows us to not only immediately address demand for social housing, but contribute to the council's vision ... of intensifying urban areas with quality developments to accommodate a growing population."
Mr Dougherty said a mix of two, three and four-bedroom homes was planned. Building was due to start in March or April with tenants moving in by the end of the year.
He said HNZ had a "responsibility and inclination to engage" with the community.
"For this particular development we have taken both the local board and local MP through our plans at some length, and have also already contacted neighbours with an offer to meet with them."
Auckland Council said it could not give any specifics on the plans until it received a resource consent application.
Mr Dickson said the development affected far more than the adjoining neighbours.
