A new public housing development in downtown Auckland shows how good design might just overcome some sticky social issues
Another step in the long march towards solving New Zealand’s housing crisis has been taken in Auckland’s city centre with the opening of a new public and private mixed housing development.
Myriad challenges however mean the housing rollout will need to remain thoughtful and agile whoever is at the helm following October’s election, according to the country’s lead architects.
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Prime Minister Chris Hipkins cut the metaphorical ribbon on 276 new homes at the Te Mātāwai development on Greys Avenue on Thursday morning after years of development.
Three quarters of those homes will be administered by Kāinga Ora, and with promised support services and shared public spaces, development partners Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei hope the development will be more village than council estate.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust deputy chair Ngarimu Blair said New Zealand was full of people from many different waka, but “unfortunately some of them get a bit lost”.
He hoped the 24/7 on-site Hapori Kaitiaki community guardianship service and support networks would help vulnerable Aucklanders get found again.
The new development is a stone’s throw away from Auckland City Mission’s HomeGround, and has much the same design approach: a modern building with traditional Māori design elements and housing a range of social services.
In the case of Te Mātāwai, a water feature echoes the nearby source of Te Wai Horotiu, the stream that once ran from the ridge of Karangahape down along what would one day be Queen Street.
Hipkins said it made him think of the changing nature of homes. He grew up in a former state house on a quarter-acre section in Lower Hutt – a far cry from this newest example of state housing.
Hipkins and Minister of Housing Megan Woods were both proud to brandish their housing record, saying one in seven state homes had been built during their Government’s tenure.
“I was reflecting on my way here this morning on the progress we have made over the last six years when it comes to providing affordable quality rental accommodation for New Zealand families,” he said.
He said when Labour got into power, the number of public houses was going backwards.
But not all public housing developments are made equal.
Judith Taylor is the president of Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects and a judge in the forthcoming F. Gordon Wilson Fellowship, which awards $20,000 to an architect or design professional to innovatively meet housing needs.
She was impressed with the work Kāinga Ora had done over the past few years, but said good design was important if housing had to be delivered quickly.
“There's innovative work going on in this country but I think it will have to happen at pace,” she said. “And so the professionalism with which we approach this investment is absolutely paramount – it’s got to be much more thoughtful.”
She said Te Mātāwai and HomeGround were prime examples of buildings creatively solving housing issues.
But they weren't for everybody.
Both Megan Woods and Taylor said the approach to public housing must not be one size fits all.
Taylor said CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) and disaster resilience were both floating up the list of priorities for the people designing New Zealand’s public housing.
“It’s a balancing act,” she said. “If we're just looking at putting roofs above peoples heads, that can cause issues ... a small number of unsupported people can sometimes make communities feel unsafe, and that speaks to the fact that there are different solutions for different needs.”
She’s speaking to the fact there are communities who will vocally oppose the arrival of public housing in their neck of the woods.
An act of suspected arson at a Kāinga Ora development in East Auckland is a recent example.
It’s unknown who may have sparked the blaze, but media attention unearthed plenty of strong feelings about the arrival of a Kāinga Ora estate in the local community.
Taylor said having options like the greater level of support at Te Mātāwai should prevent the potential for social conflict around developments.
“NIMBYism is an issue but only when they're unsupported,” she said. “A minor misplacement of a person who needs different support can create widespread ripples and there are different solutions appropriate in different circumstances.”
The Labour Party hasn't yet begun its campaign in earnest, but Hipkins' appearance at a completed project was almost certainly intended to generate a bit of positive political capital after a tough few weeks.
Taylor cautioned against politicising the housing question, saying it needed an answer from whoever takes the country’s reins in October.
“We've got to take a long view and a deep view and make sure we are doing the right thing over time,” she said. “These are tremendous investments and these are human lives at play ... this has to be a bipartisan solution.”
The National Party’s cure for housing woes focuses on unlocking land for housing, reducing red tape for developers and providing financial incentives for councils who build new homes.
That last option would be funded by cutting programmes like KiwiBuild and the $219 million used for the Kāinga Ora land acquisition programme.
