Housing Minister Nick Smith and Auckland Mayor Len Brown have unveiled a draft plan for regenerating Auckland's Tamaki district, including building an additional 6000 homes.
The "draft strategic framework", which is up for public feedback till July 19, takes a 25-year view of the redevelopment of Tamaki, including the suburbs of Panmure, Glen Innes and Point England.
The area will likely be designated a "special housing area" under the Auckland Housing Accord agreed but not yet signed off on between the Auckland Council and the Government. See here for housing accord articles. The regeneration project is falling under the auspices of the Tamaki Redevelopment Company (TRC), a joint venture between the council and the Government.
Smith said the ambition was to transform the Tāmaki area over the next 25 years into a thriving and prosperous community with better educational opportunities, more people having jobs, and improved health and recreational facilities.
"This will only be achieved if we take the people with us, which is why we are consulting with the community on this draft blueprint,” Smith says.
“A significant part of the regeneration programme is focused on housing. Fifty seven per cent of the existing 5000 properties are owned by Housing New Zealand and too many are old, cold and mouldy and are of the wrong size and in the wrong place. This draft blueprint sets out a vision of providing up to 6000 additional homes in the area with a better mix of social, affordable and market housing.
“This massive urban regeneration programme is a first for New Zealand in scale and approach. The model is based on world best practice of similar urban re-developments. It is being progressed in partnership with the Auckland Council and is deliberately focused on not just housing, but all of the components like education, employment and recreation that are needed for a more successful community.”
The Tāmaki Redevelopment Company was formed by the Government and Auckland Council in July last year. The Government contributed $5 million to help establish the company and the Auckland Council contributed $3.5 million.
Shareholding Ministers will consider a business case from the TRC on the regeneration opportunities later this year.
The 52-page draft strategy is long on aspirations and fairly short on specific details.
It says that TRC will "facilitate" the construction of new houses in Tamaki in partnership with community housing providers and private developers.
One short-term (though non-time-specific) strategy is to "quickly deliver three-to-four start-up housing projects with around 20 new homes in each".
Another "short-term" strategy is to establish a "major regeneration initiative".
"This project will include housing development, improvements to the urban environment and parks incorporating natural features. It will link to other initiatives such as employment, economic development and education and skills," the draft says.
4 Comments
I am not impressed, it is political tokenism. Special housing areas such as these are just something that National can point to when asked what they are doing about housing. It provides no long term solutions.
A brave government would have done something like Alexander wrote aout and what many of us have clearly asked for.
In late-breaking news, Snick Miff has denied reports that the Gubmint has bought three towers from south-east London at an undisclosed, but understood to be bargain-basement price, and is having these dismantled and shipped to Tamaki for re-erection.
'Don't be stupid', he snapped, when confronted with this rumour, backed up only by a tattered yet legible bill of lading from COSCO, by your on-the spot reporter, Harvey Graveyard.
'Planting mass housing projects willy-nilly - um, let me rephrase that - without suitable impact planning, amongst the teeming poor of an already overstretched city obviously did not end well for Britain. We're not about to repeat That mistake.
This mass housing project will be Carefully Planned, and then slung up in a hurry, I mean fast-tracked - to take advantage of current costs and land availability and to offer Affordable Accommodation for Our teeming poor - I mean for the numerous earnest citizens of our rapidly growing capital - I mean - biggest city.'
(That microphone wasn't On all the time, was it?)
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