KEY POINTS:
Housing New Zealand has bowed to the demand for high-security apartment blocks for elderly and disabled tenants in its new Talbot Park development in Glen Innes.
The $48 million "renewal" project has increased the population of the site from 500 to 700.
Housing Minister Chris Carter said the project was "a model for the future".
Although Housing New Zealand has been shut out of the new Stonefields private housing development in the nearby former quarry by caveats on the property titles, many of the 2500 existing Housing NZ homes in the Tamaki area are targeted for similar renewal.
Nine 12-unit "starflat" blocks have been renovated, older houses have been demolished and 111 new units have been built - 21 family homes of up to eight bedrooms for large families, four three-bedroom duplexes, 16 three-bedroom townhouses, four bedsits for the elderly and 66 two-bedroom apartments in three blocks.
Retired boiler operator Paul De Rungs, 71, said the high security of his third-floor apartment was a big reason he chose to move from his former pensioner flat in nearby Merton Rd.
"I wanted to be upstairs. Security is a big thing," he said. "I got burgled at Merton Rd. With older people, it's always a worry."
His Merton Rd flat was also "small and cramped". His top-floor corner apartment has a large balcony with a view of Talbot Park, a small park to be developed by Auckland City Council.
Mr De Rungs has helped set up a residents' association to support the Housing NZ tenancy manager in dealing with any tenants who cause damage or danger to other tenants.
"We are quite proactive, the reason being that there are a lot of predictions that this is going to be another slum and a ghetto. We are working really hard with Housing NZ to see that that doesn't happen," he said.
He said local children had already taken "ownership" of the new park. When people from outside the area recently splattered it with graffiti, the local kids were indignant.
A tenant in a new three-bedroom home, Celia Morrison, said it was much bigger and drier than the unit she had in Pilkington Rd.
"It was very damp and cold in the winter. The walls and ceiling used to be all moist," she said.
"These ones are ideal because they have put windows in the corners so they don't get any moisture."
Fans have been installed in the kitchen, laundry and two bathrooms.
A bedsit tenant said energy-saving devices brought her neighbour's power bill down to only $40 a month.
A mother of five in a four-bedroom family home, Bobbie Walker, said she was wary about moving in because she had been told the area would be Auckland's "Bronx". She has been pleasantly surprised by the spacious house with two bathrooms.
"At the moment, with everyone supervising their children and knowing what they are up to, everything is all right," she said.
"The moment that supervision goes and the kids start roaring around and doing what they want to do, that will be the problem. It's all up to the tenants and Housing NZ."
Safety first
* Access to new Housing New Zealand apartments for disabled and elderly tenants features security locks and intercom buttons.
* Energy saving devices include solar heating panels, double-glazing, recycled water and low-energy light bulbs.
