I asked a number of questions of Kainga Ora on 22 July 2023, today I just received response to some of them. There are still so many questions we keep asking, but clearly RDC is doing a money grab, look at the post I did earlier today which shows the Moore street development mentioned in an answer below.
Please provide details of the number of people on MSD housing wait list in Ohakune to support repeated claims The MSD register is available on their website. I can confirm, there are 12 people currently registered with MSD on the housing register
Is it correct that you intend to import people from outside “Ohakune” to fill some of the proposed dwellings? Teitei Drive's proposed development aligns with Ruapehu District Council’s strategy to tackle Ohakune’s housing challenges by working with the Government and others to increase the availability of warm, dry, affordable homes for both private and public rental and purchase in the next few years. It’s about planning for the future needs of a vibrant, thriving community.
A suggestion has been made that existing houses in Ohakune don't meet KO standards; why is KO bar set so high when ordinary first home buyers would welcome any home or roof over their head; why does KO need to provide NEW homes and is KO not considering any properties for sale on Trade Me for the Ohakune region. There are currently over 60 properties listed for under $500k in Ohakune, with 13 in Raetihi and 8 in Rangataua The proposed homes at Teitei Drive are part of ensuring we can make more land build ready and that a variety of housing options are available for the local community in the future.
With existing LOTS available on Trade Me, priced from $165k, why is KO not considering these in a dispersed manner? The Teitei Drive site has been identified as part of the Council’s housing strategy, and a funding application was approved to support shovel ready projects. Kāinga Ora is open to looking at market delivery options to support supply for public housing, but they must meet our build standards and be in locations where we can best support our customers.
I've been advised that the builds will be single story, can you confirm this is the case and what the designers are following for the building consents We are in the early stages of this project. Planning for the design of the homes has not started yet and will form part of the resource consent application, expected to be lodged in 2024. All homes will be warm, dry and fit-for-purpose homes. We will keep the community updated as we progress with plans, including sharing concepts of what the homes might look like and the amenity we will include, such as greenspace.
Could you please share the terms of government funding for this project; what is being paid for, what risks are associated with Council, what does the money have to be spent on. We want to understand if TeiTei housing is the only solution, or if other social projects such as recreational or tourism related would qualify, these could create jobs; or could other developments in the area possibly be the target of the funds, such as the purchase of singular land LOTS spread around Ohakune Funding for the Teitei Drive project came from an initial grant of $7.78m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund toward the development of social and affordable housing in Ruapehu. The intention (as per Teitei Drive) was to use the funding to get vacant council land ready for housing development and then partner with others which could include Government agencies such as Kainga Ora, community housing providers, iwi or private investors to undertake the housing build in stages over the next few years. $2.1m of this funding has been utilised to develop six social housing units at Moore St in Ohakune. Council was aiming for the successful completion of the Moore St project to demonstrate our capacity to deliver even larger housing projects (social, affordable, long-term rental) in the future and unlock further investment from government and the private sector toward implementation of our Housing Strategy. Government then committed the remaining $5.68m to Kainga Ora to enable a partnership with Council and Ngāti Rangi to enable the development of residentially zoned vacant land at Teitei Drive in Ohakune. As the government’s Urban Development Agency, Kāinga Ora is coordinating a joint approach for the development of Teitei Drive to enable more homes (social, affordable, long-term rental) to be built by other landowners and developers in the future. The funding is not available for other initiatives other than housing. The development of Moore St and Teitei Drive are providing stimulus for the local economy. Kāinga Ora does consider opportunities through market delivery to support housing supply. When assessing these opportunities, considerations are made around what sort of homes are required at the time, the suitability of the property/land, and whether it meets Kāinga Ora standards.
David Holland the developer of Rocky Mountain Chalets, Snowmass Drive and Alpine Way believes there will be massive budget blow outs due to Subterranean rocks they hit when developing, what guarantees do we have these wont be rate payer funded or a risk to council budget blowouts. Could we please have reports regarding this. We are aware of the ground conditions. You can find more information about the proposed subdivision and infrastructure in the resource consent application. This programme of work at Teitei Drive has been made possible through the successful application by Ruapehu District Council for Infrastructure Reference Group Funding from the Government. This funding enables the planning and development of key infrastructure to provide capacity for new homes and amenities. The CIP funding and Kāinga Ora will be covering the cost for this project.
David suggested he looked at developing TeiTei way back, but it wasn’t feasible due to sewer main hights; he also suggested the storm water wouldn’t handle as its not piped but rather houses lead into the stream, like my property at 30c Snowmass Dr does. Could we please have reports regarding this You can find more information about the mitigations that have been put in place to address this in the resource consent application. For your request of any reports, we’ll include this as part of your other OIA requests.
Can we please get a copy of the roading assessments that’s been done for the access ways to the developments and any assessments on the impact to Carrot Park. Apparently David was involved in the assessments for TeiTei 7+ years ago and it was vetoed by rate payers due to concern for safety with trucks possibly using it as a shortcut. There was also concern that the entry to carrot park is already very close to the bridge that major changes to the intersection would be required affecting home existing owners. Waka Kotahi are the controlling authority for the roads. We are not connecting the site to the Raetihi Ohakune Road so no short cut for trucks would be created. Any traffic management assessments, if required, for the proposed development will be included at the next stage.
What impact assessment has been done on the carrot park, safety wise & traffic wise. A traffic study was done as part of work for the Future Ohakune project. This assessed traffic issues in Ohakune covering Teitei Drive and other developments. The issues that were identified were not made worse by Teitei Drive.
What can RDC do to protect rate payers from anti-social behaviour KO tenants, as of last month only 3 people had been evicted and at least one of those took a year (where the neighbour was awarded over $5k in compensation); can RDC create a bi-law or something to protect the region Kāinga Ora supports customers to live well in their homes and be good neighbours as part of a thriving community. There are almost 200,000 Kainga Ora customers – most of whom live well in their homes, are good neighbours and members of their community. However, when disruptive behaviour occurs Kāinga Ora will work closely with the community and key partners to ensure those customers are well supported.
You indicated you were not aware of the strict covenants of the Snowmass Subdivision and you would look into it and ensure the designers incorporate rules to protect neighbouring properties. As many have advised, they see the building of affordable & social housing as a major impact to their property values. See appendix 1 below listing some of the covenants we are currently held to. No covenants are being proposed at the moment. Any appropriate covenants will be considered as part of the resource consent application for new homes, expected to be lodged early 2024.
There is concern that council is competing with private developers, and that some developers are waiting on titles and consents, please can you provide a response Just like any developer, Kāinga Ora is required to follow the same council process when lodging resource consents. There are no special dispensations.
If you have concerns, like me, please sign our petition at https://chng.it/K6F8QnRCZQ
Ohakune is a population of around 1200 people; we are already at over 750 signatures
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