What a new Gem St social housing development will look like. Photo / Supplied
What a new Gem St social housing development will look like. Photo / Supplied
Neighbours of a Gem StKāinga Ora housing development are annoyed to find out 10 two-storey homes will be built where four houses once stood.
They say they haven’t been able to fight the development because, in their opinion, they haven’t been kept informed and they are concerned the homes will be too squashed in with little space for the tenants and neighbours to live in harmony.
“It’s been set up to fail,” said one of the neighbours, who didn’t want to be identified out of fear of being targeted for speaking out.
Another resident said he received a letter from Kāinga Ora a few months ago but it lacked details and if he had known they would be two-storey homes - which would block his natural light and reduce his privacy - he would have fought the plans.
What a new Gem St social housing development will look like. Photo / Supplied
But Kāinga Ora says it sent 75 letters to residents in September outlining its intention for the single-storey homes on large sections from 25 to 31 Gem St.
The letter said it was in the very early stages of exploring how the land could best be developed and it would provide for up to 10 homes.
It said once it had high-level design plans, it would share them with locals.
Residents, who spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post on the condition of anonymity, feared it was now too late to fight the plans because Kāinga Ora had already applied for resource consent.
They wanted to stress they weren’t against people having social housing and weren’t nimbys because they knew there was a need for more homes in Rotorua.
They said they were concerned there were too many houses for the land. They said eight single-storey homes would have been better and meant everyone would be happy.
One neighbour spoken to by the Rotorua Daily Post said he had spoken to three neighbours around him and none received the letter from Kāinga Ora in September.
While he personally remembered getting the letter, it did not say the homes would be two-storey, which he felt was an important point as there were no other two-storey homes in the area.
He said he first knew something serious was happening when he saw geotech workers surveying a neighbouring property, which sparked him to contact Kāinga Ora and make further inquiries.
He said people could call them nimbys but they weren’t the ones having to live there.
“The reality is I live here and this will be a construction site. It’s taken us a long time to get where we are today. Nothing has been handed to us. A lot of the homeowners around here are first-home buyers and they have worked hard to get where they are.”
The block of homes on Gem St, which are unoccupied, where 10 two-storey homes are to be built. Photo / Kelly Makiha
A woman who owns a neighbouring property, who also didn’t want to be identified, said she was worried the 10 new homes could potentially have about 50 residents including young children in a relatively small area - too many houses and people to live in harmony.
There was a lack of green space for residents and that would also impact their mental health, she said.
She was also concerned the size of the build and height of the buildings including proximity to boundaries meant natural light would be taken away from some existing homes including one in its entirety.
The height of the buildings would impose on neighbours’ privacy and the lack of parking for guests was a concern and would cause overflow on to current neighbours’ lawns, footpaths, road and lead to safety concerns, she believed.
She said their fear stemmed from concerns about Kāinga Ora’s ability to manage tenants’ bad behaviour.
In response to written questions from the Rotorua Daily Post, Kāinga Ora acting Bay of Plenty regional director Teresa Pou saidit was planning to build10 modern, warm and dry homes.
“We’ve let the local community know of these plans via a letter drop to 75 properties in the area in September, and are planning a community session in the area early this year to update on progress.”
She said Kāinga Ora had spoken with the local school, kōhanga reo and kindergarten because it was expecting families with children to live in the houses because they were well located for early years and schooling needs.
“We’ve been approached by just two property owners, who we’ve been in contact with a number of times, and who asked Kāinga Ora to purchase their property. Neither of these requests are being progressed.”
Each of the 10 homes would have two off-street parks and a fenced outdoor area, with easy-to-maintain landscaping and communal shared spaces, Pou said.
“We’ve taken a lot of care to ensure these are well-designed, good quality homes that are warmer, drier and more energy efficient than ever, and are in line with the district plan requirements.
Pou said while two-storey homes would be new to this area of the city, the city’s housing crisis meant it needed to “build up” to deliver more houses.
