The last remaining tenants of a dilapidated Kāinga Ora apartment block in Wellington have held up repairs to the heritage building by refusing to leave.
The Dixon St flat tenancies ended in May, but now, Kāinga Ora is taking overstaying occupiers to the Tenancy Tribunal and spending an average of $40,000 a month on security in the meantime.
The apartment block was once a world-leading example of state housing in the 1940s but the Category 1 heritage building has deteriorated so much it is uninhabitable.
Kāinga Ora’s Greater Wellington director Vicki McLaren said the Dixon St flats “are outdated and no longer meet the needs of our customers” but “some customers have been reluctant to move to another Kāinga Ora home”.
“We are working through the Residential Tenancies Act process to end these tenancies. Unfortunately, deferrals of some scheduled Tenancy Tribunal hearings have meant that this process is taking longer than we initially expected.”
Historic Places Wellington chairwoman Felicity Wong told 1News: “I visited the building about a year-and-a-half ago just to the public areas and I was shocked by the poor condition.”
And Wellington City councillor for Pukehīnau/Lambton Geordie Rogers was also disappointed to see the disrepair.
“It’s absolutely in the hands of Kāinga Ora to make sure that situations like this don’t happen. They are the people that are the landlords, they have access to the buildings, and they are the ones that should be responsible for making sure that your regular maintenance is done.”
But McLaren said the alternative housing being offered is “warmer, healthier, and better suited” to the needs of residents, and the Dixon St flats needed “significant upgrades”.
“Many components of the building are nearing the end of their life and require replacement, making repairs both costly and time-consuming.”
Kāinga Ora wants to start decommissioning work but can’t do so safely until the flats are empty.
In the meantime at least two security guards are on site 24/7 to prevent vandalism and monitor the overstaying occupiers.
Figures obtained by 1News show for the month of June 2024 alone the security bill was $61,000 but the current average is about $40,000.
Heritage groups have expressed concern the building will be demolished.
“Imagine taking this building to the tip — it would be an environmental eco-crime,” Wong said.
“It’s in very poor condition, the communal areas, but the bones of the building are really great and it could be a great modern, repurposed building … If it doesn’t suit Kāinga Ora then it should be sold and refurbished for private use.”
When asked if demolishing the building was a consideration, McLaren said: “We are currently reviewing our options for the future of the building, but no long-term decisions have been made.”
She also said the housing agency had “applied for resource consent to secure the building, which involves attaching hoardings, boarding up windows, and other measures to ensure safety while it is vacant”.
The building has housed refugees, people released from prison, recovering addicts, and the elderly, but forced departures from the flats in May have been hard for those who cherished the flats as a consistent home.
Stuart Simpson, a Presbyterian minister who has helped give social support to people living in the flats in the past, said the major change would have been unavoidable, but unsettling for some, “especially people who have massive, massive mental health challenges”.
He said a “top down” approach was best avoided.
“There’s one lady from Kāinga Ora that made cakes for everyone’s birthday … So, it’s building those relationships, side by side, not the big power coming down and saying ‘you must do that’.”
