Social houses sitting empty
Hundreds of Kāinga Ora homes in Wellington were empty for more than four months last year, many of them brand new.
Data released to The Post under the Official Information Act shows that the social housing agency struggled to place tenants into new social housing across New Zealand last year, with a backlog of more than 1000 empty new homes in June and August.
In the meantime the waiting list for social housing was only growing – 28,500 people on the social housing register grew to 30,500 by November.
Out of the close to 8000 Kāinga Ora homes in the Wellington region, 568 were empty for more than four months. That was 7% of the available social houses.
Nationally, Kāinga Ora added 4000 homes to its portfolio from June 2022 to October 2023, welcome news as the demand for social housing increased.
But by October 2023, 576 of those brand new homes had been empty for more than a month. There were 235 newly built homes empty for more than four months.
Housing minister Chris Bishop said the numbers were “completely unacceptable” and he was dismayed to see hundreds of new homes sitting vacant at a time when families needed them so badly.
“These are newly built homes we’re talking about, not older houses needing maintenance and renovation.
“There are thousands of people waiting for a social house who must be frustrated and disappointed to hear that lovely new homes are sitting empty for months while they try to care for their family in a dank motel room or on a relative’s couch.”
Bishop said problems like this one had led the Government to initiate an independent review of Kāinga Ora, to be led by Sir Bill English. The report was due in March.
“In the interim I have written to the board of Kāinga Ora to make clear my expectation that homes are not left empty for even one more day than absolutely necessary,” Bishop said.
Wellington was by far the worst city when it came to filling social housing.
More homes were empty than other cities and the homes that were empty stayed empty for longer periods of time. Seventeen percent of the 1885 Kāinga Ora-managed houses
“For some people it takes a mental health crisis ... getting to such a bad point in their life, to get social housing.”
Geordie Rogers, Renters United
were sitting empty as of October (the most recent date the housing agency could provide data from).
Chief executive Andrew McKenzie said yesterday that the vacancy rate had more recently dropped to 12.2%. The disproportionate number of empty homes in Wellington “reflects the city having a lot of older complexes, like the Dixon Street Flats, that are undergoing major repairs”.
All other cities had less than 10% of their social houses empty – Auckland has just 2.5% of its social houses empty and Christchurch just 3%.
Lower Hutt was the next worst to Wellington, with almost 10% empty.
Renters United president Geordie Rogers – a candidate in the upcoming Wellington City Council by-election – said he hadn’t heard about problems with vacancy rates in Kāinga Ora’s portfolio and he could understand the process took time.
That said, waiting for social housing was “incredibly difficult” for people who didn’t have anywhere else to turn.
It was heartbreaking to hear about people who were ready to ask for help with housing, only to be told it was months away, Rogers said. In the meantime people had to couchsurf or even move cities to find accommodation.
“For some people it takes a mental health crisis, getting to such a bad point in their life, to get social housing,” Rogers said. Kāinga Ora ranks prospective applicants by priority, so it’s not a basic first in, first served system.
Data showed the problem with placing people into new homes was apparent across the country – the placement team could not keep up with the number of new homes being delivered, despite a waiting list which was only growing.
Overall about 3% of Kāinga Ora’s housing stock sits empty. There are various reasons for this, said McKenzie.
Sometimes properties are being renovated, or don’t have the necessary fittings required by Kāinga Ora. Sometimes the process to place tenants simply takes a long time.
The agency was working to speed up the process by introducing initiatives like group viewings, McKenzie said.