Kāinga Ora pauses 24-home Longford development in Gore
Kāinga Ora has paused work on its new development at Gore until it gets further direction from the Government.
The public housing provider planned to build 24 homes of various sizes on the site of the former Longford Tavern, which it bought in January 2023.
The tavern was demolished in March of the same year to make way for the development.
Kāinga Ora’s regional director for Otago, Southland and South Canterbury, Kerrie Young, said the housing provider would continue with its application for resource consent, which was currently being processed by the Gore District Council.
“However, we will not be progressing any other work on this project at this stage,” she said. “Until we get further direction from the Government, projects that are not already contracted for delivery, such as the redevelopment of the site at 29 Hamilton St in Gore, are paused.”
Kāinga Ora had previously put its resource consent application for the project on hold. Young said that was because it wanted time to assess the feedback the council gathered when it notified parties affected by the proposed development.
“After we had considered the feedback, we advised the council we were ready to proceed to the next step in the process – a hearing to enable the council to make a decision on the consent. We are now awaiting a hearing date from the council.”
Gore mayor Ben Bell said he could not comment on the decision to pause the development until after the resource consent process was completed.
The Ministry of Social Development’s housing register shows that, as at March this year, 27 people were on a waiting list for a home in the Gore District.
As part of the Government’s Budget 2024 announcement, Kāinga Ora has had its mandate reduced.
Large-scale projects will have reduced funding, with decisions yet to be made on which parts of the programme are affected, and community housing providers have been given $140 million over four years to deliver 1500 new social housing places.