The decision to cancel these developments in Porirua East represents a fundamental failure to understand the housing crisis facing New Zealand. Porirua has consistently recorded some of the highest rates of housing stress in the Wellington region, with families forced into overcrowded conditions or makeshift arrangements. The cancelled developments would have provided essential relief for dozens of families currently on Kāinga Ora's extensive waiting list, families who now face an indefinite wait for secure housing.
Today, The Post reported:
Porirua East social housing developments axed in Kāinga Ora review
More than 70 new planned social houses in Porirua’s eastern suburbs have been cancelled by a Kāinga Ora review, with the local MP calling it the wrong decision.
The 76 homes across three developments are located in Cannons Creek, on Castor Cres, Matahourua Cres, Hazard Gr and Bellona Place. Out of the affected houses, 22 are single-bedroom, 36 are two-bedroom, 13 have three bedrooms, two are four-bedroom houses and three houses have five bedrooms.
What makes this decision particularly galling is the government's simultaneous celebration of a 25-home development in Rotorua. The NZ Herald dutifully reported that these 25 homes employed 300 people during construction – a figure that works out to 12 workers per house. This is either the most labour-intensive construction project in human history, or it's statistical manipulation designed to generate positive headlines for a government desperately trying to appear competent on housing.
Today, the NZ Herald reported:
On The Up: 25 new Kāinga Ora homes ready for Rotorua families
The first stage of a Kāinga Ora housing development in Ōwhata is about to see 25 new homes become available for Rotorua people in emergency and transitional housing.
The development is being praised as a success after employing about 300 tradespeople since October 2023 - a majority of them from Rotorua.
...
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell said there was no doubt there was a significant housing need in Rotorua.
“There’s also a need to prioritise local contractors as much as possible, and it’s great this has been recognised through this housing project.”
She said Penny Homes had an excellent reputation and was local to the region, so it was appreciated that Rotorua trades and suppliers were used.
“We’re seeing a record amount of housing options being consented and built in Rotorua, including retirement villages, iwi housing developments, and rural lifestyle blocks.”
The number of building consents have steadily declined since National came to power, making Tania Tapsell either deluded or an outright liar! Tapsell was in fact a strong supporter of closing down Rotorua's emergency housing, and has now gone into damage control as the numbers of homeless people in her region increases.
NZ building consents for new dwellings have declined by 16.3% annually since the October 2023 general election.
— Jackal (@Jackalblog) May 18, 2025
Jobs in the construction sector are also down 5.3% annually since the @NZNationalParty came to power. #nzpol pic.twitter.com/X4kDx6KtB9
Using the NZ Herald's own inflated employment calculations, the 76 cancelled Porirua homes could have created approximately 840 construction jobs. That's 840 jobs eliminated in the name of fiscal responsibility, alongside the 76 families who will remain homeless. But this government has proven remarkably adept at finding money for corporate tax cuts while claiming poverty when it comes to housing the most vulnerable.
The Porirua cancellation forms part of a much larger pattern of deliberate housing reduction. Kāinga Ora has scrapped 212 projects nationwide, eliminating 3,479 homes that were planned to address New Zealand's housing shortage. Each cancelled home represents a family that will remain in housing stress, a family that this government has chosen to abandon in pursuit of their neoliberal agenda.
Well, we did it. Despite driving tens of thousands of surplus kiwi workers abroad, we've still increased unemployment by more than any other country in the OECD.
— Musical Chairs (@MusicalChairs14) December 22, 2024
If you think unemployment was 'too low' in the 2020 - 2023 period (ghoul), the next graph might work better for you. pic.twitter.com/1LhdQHmDfo
Simultaneously, the government has moved aggressively to reduce emergency housing provisions, effectively creating a pincer movement that traps families between cancelled permanent housing and eliminated temporary accommodation. The result is predictable: families are being pushed directly into homelessness because they cannot afford the high costs associated with private rentals. Housing providers have warned that the governments approach will create a significant increase in rough sleeping and family homelessness, but the government appears unconcerned about these terrible consequences of their uncaring policy decisions.
The economic logic of this approach is fundamentally flawed. Those 76 Porirua homes would have provided permanent housing solutions for decades, eliminating the ongoing costs of temporary accommodation and the social services required to support homeless families. Instead, the government has chosen a path that will generate higher long-term costs while inflicting maximum harm on vulnerable families.
Research from the University of Otago estimated in 2016 that keeping someone homeless costs the government $65,000 annually through mental health services, police costs, and emergency interventions. Adjusting for inflation and current service costs, this figure likely exceeds $85,000 per person today. With over 112,000 people experiencing severe housing deprivation, the government is choosing to perpetuate a system that costs billions annually rather than invest in permanent housing solutions that would cost a fraction of that amount over time.
In 2016, The ODT reported:
Homeless 'costing $65,000 each'
Each person living on the street in New Zealand cost the Government around $65,000 a year, an inquiry into homelessness has heard.
Getting them off the streets and into secure housing could cost as little as $15,000, a University of Otago housing research organisation said.
Many mainstream media outlets have failed to cover this housing mismanagement properly. The NZ Herald's breathless reporting on the Rotorua development, complete with uncritical repetition of employment figures and government talking points, demonstrates a failure of basic journalistic scrutiny. Where is the analysis of these employment claims? Where is the context about the thousands of cancelled homes? This isn't journalism; it's stenography for a government that needs to be challenged and held to account.
The cancellation of essential housing while celebrating token developments perfectly captures this government's approach to social policy. They manufacture small victories for media consumption while inflicting massive damage on at risk communities that need support. The 76 families who won't receive homes in Porirua East are not just statistics; they are New Zealanders who deserve better than a government that treats housing as a luxury rather than a fundamental necessity.
Last week, RNZ reported:
Kāinga Ora halts hundreds of housing developments, sells vacant land
State housing provider Kāinga Ora is halting hundreds of housing developments which would have delivered nearly 3500 homes, and selling a fifth of its vacant land.
The agency's chief executive Matt Crockett said on Thursday the "critical step" in its reset plan would see it write down up to $220 million.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop ordered Kāinga Ora to deliver a turnaround plan that would ensure financial sustainability.
Christopher Luxon and his incompetent ministers should be required to explain to every family on the social housing waiting list why their housing needs aren't as important as tax breaks for landlords and tax cuts for the wealthy. They should explain why thousands of construction jobs are less valuable than their commitment to austerity for the poor. Most importantly, they should explain why increasing homelessness is an acceptable price for their destructive political agenda that appears to only be concerned with propping up an overheated housing market and making the wealthy even richer.
New Zealand's housing crisis demands serious solutions, not public relations exercises disguised as policy. We deserve better than this calculated abandonment, and New Zealand deserves a government that prioritises housing families over maintaining a system that is continuously increasing inequality.
