Well certainly there was noise and dust last year as the graders got in and prepared the site. We have the road, street lights and other infrastructure all put down and hopefully the first set of houses to start construction this season. Well every time I have gone for a walk near the area over the last few months the place has been devoid of activity while Addison around the corner rockets ahead.
And then this cropped up in the Herald yesterday:
State house plan hit by high costs
5:00 AM Wednesday Nov 19, 2014 – Simon Collins
Rising land values spell slow progress on new builds.
The number of state houses has dropped by 1600 in the past three years as grand plans for more state homes in Auckland appear to have been hit by rising land values.
A plan for 500 new homes next to the Papakura army base, announced two years ago, has yet to result in a single house started. Other projects across Auckland are making slow progress.
Meanwhile, Housing NZ has kept selling off high-value properties in Auckland, and houses to its tenants nationwide, reducing the number of state houses from a recent peak of 69,717 in June 2011 to just 68,125 at September 30 this year – the lowest since 2007.
New Housing NZ Minister Bill English has said since the September election that the Government aims to sell more state houses to consortiums including community housing trusts.
But the corporation’s acting chief executive, Greg Groufsky, said there had been no reduction in a target of building 2000 new houses between July 1 last year and the end of next year. By the halfway point on September 30, the corporation had built only 274 homes, including 80 in Christchurch.
Auckland was due to get “more than half” of the 2000 new homes. In fact only 118 were “delivered” by the end of last month, comprising 112 for state tenants and six for private sale. A further 522 were “in delivery”, 72 in “negotiation” and 176 in “evaluation”.
A geographical breakdown of the total 888 homes now built or planned over the two and a half years shows the biggest numbers are new two-bedroom homes behind existing houses across Auckland (198), followed by 169 new homes in West Auckland, 139 in Glen Innes, 110 in Manukau-Mt Wellington and 86 in an inner-west group from Avondale to Mt Roskill.
The list includes 76 in Papakura, where initial roads and a marketing pavilion were built in Walters Rd between Papakura Normal School and the army base a year ago – but where no houses have yet been started.
Housing NZ chief executive Glen Sowry said in January that the development’s commercial structure was “still being debated” in view of rising land values.
Housing NZ said yesterday it was subdividing larger lots into smaller house lots to cut build costs and house prices.
The development was meant to take place in this general area which is Mixed Housing Suburban under the Unitary Plan:
Social Housing was to go here
So I wonder what has happened?
Apparently one of two things have happened:
Plans have been drawn up by Housing NZ and construction starts next year
Asbestos was found at the site and remedial work has to get under way
What ever the case is maybe we might see the first house go down next construction season (October 2015 – April 2016) or is the entire subdivision going to be flipped over and treated as a normal development rather than a social housing development.
2 thoughts on “Social Housing Development Stalled”
Ben, – who owns the land now?
That is a good question but I believe Housing NZ still own the site. I will need to check with the Housing Project Office (something Councillor Cathy Casey is doing now) to see for sure. But I do know the site seems to be contaminated with asbestos from its historic Army camp days triggering the need for a second clean up.
If so that will just push the development prices up even further and most likely trigger the entire site to be flipped to the open market
Talking Southern Auckland 
Ben, – who owns the land now?
That is a good question but I believe Housing NZ still own the site. I will need to check with the Housing Project Office (something Councillor Cathy Casey is doing now) to see for sure. But I do know the site seems to be contaminated with asbestos from its historic Army camp days triggering the need for a second clean up.
If so that will just push the development prices up even further and most likely trigger the entire site to be flipped to the open market