Police armed offender squads have been allowed to train on an abandoned state housing development, 1News can reveal, as the fate of the vacated West Auckland homes rests on the outcome of a Government review.
One New Lynn site has been used 12 times since July for armed offenders training as public housing agency Kāinga Ora continues a wide-ranging review of its developments.
Nearly $30,000 has been spent on security patrols at the unoccupied site, which was vacated by residents in March and meant to be re-developed into new homes.
Kāinga Ora said it was not unusual for vacant buildings to be used by police or fire services, saying it happened from “time to time” for first responders to “conduct essential training in an authentic residential environment”.
The housing agency wasn’t able to tell 1News how many vacant sites there were nationwide and how much was being spent on security at those.
In New Lynn, Kelston MP Carmel Sepuloni said it was important for the re-development go ahead, saying the previous houses on the site had appeared to be “damp and mouldy”.
“We just want the redevelopment to take place. [The site is] apparently being monitored, but you only need to walk around the perimeter of the project, and you can see how much graffiti has gone on here since it has been closed up,” the Labour MP said.
“I support the fact that there needed to be [a demolition] and there needed to be a rebuild, but there’s nothing happening.
“There are so many people in West Auckland that are desperate for housing. This is not the only project that’s been put on pause by Kāinga Ora across the country”.
The Labour MP said state housing developments needed to be prioritised.
Several kilometres away in Mt Roskill, 52 state housing units were vacated after seismic issues were discovered. A Kāinga Ora spokesperson said repairs at the vandalised site would be too costly, but no decision had been made about what the site would be used for in the future.
“The buildings will be demolished but there is no firm time frame or contract for that work at this stage.”
As part of its review of state housing projects, the agency has previously said it was focused on “value for money and areas of greater social housing need”.
Kainga Ora spent nearly $5m on demolition, consent and planning on two developments that are currently going nowhere. (Source: 1News)
Youth development worker Aaron Hendry, who is the director of Kick Back, said the agency needed to ensure homes reached the people who needed them.
“We need to start investing and ensuring that those properties can be liveable, that they can be available to our whānau,” he said.
“It’s all about choices. We can say this is too expensive but it’s really about the lens that you bring to this. What do we value and who do we value in society?”