$1.5b plan to revitalise Porirua

A massive $1.5 billion regeneration project for Porirua will see thousands of state homes built.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited Russell School in the suburb of Cannons Creek yesterday to announce a large-scale plan to revitalise Eastern Porirua – an area known for pockets of deprivation and a wealth of cultural diversity.

The plan will have Government partner with local iwi Nga¯ ti Toa and the Porirua City Council over the next 25 years to redevelop roughly 2000 state houses in Eastern Porirua and about 900 state houses in Western Porirua, including Titahi Bay.

About 2500 KiwiBuild homes will be constructed among the state house rebuilds.

The first renewed state home will be ready for tenants in 2019, while the first KiwiBuild home will be ready in 2020.

People already living in the Porirua community would receive first preference in the KiwiBuild ballot, Ardern said.

For state tenants in Eastern Porirua, the redevelopment would not affect existing tenants, and they would pay the same rent. ‘‘Many of these homes are a bit old now, a bit damp, and are not the homes they should be.’’

Nga¯ ti Toa Rangatira executive director Matiu Rei welcomed the reset for the community, but warned a broader effort was required to lift up Porirua.

The community bore the worst of economic and social policy changes since the 1980s.

‘‘That renewal must include attracting employment opportunities for our people, particularly our young.’’ Nga¯ ti Toa will partner with the Government to upgrade state homes in Titahi Bay, Mana, Tawa, Takapu¯ wa¯ hia and Elsdon, and will manage the 900 refurbished homes in Western Porirua.

On Wednesday, Porirua Chamber of Commerce chairman Nick Leggett said the plan would herald a humungous ‘‘transformation for Porirua’’.

‘‘It’s set to improve the quality of housing in the city for people that most need it. It’s going to improve people’s lives,’’ he said.

‘‘This has to be done by people who already live there. They must have a say in the change.’’

Eastern Porirua councillor Kylie Wihapi said any opportunity for revitalising and developing Porirua East would definitely have its benefits ‘‘but it’s about who it’s benefiting’’.

‘‘It would be important to define affordable housing particularly when it comes to areas with high housing demand and affordability pressures.

‘‘I wouldn’t want this ... to increase inequities in housing ownership.’’

This is not the first time Porirua has been the site of a massive Government-led house building project. To meet urgent demand for homes after World War II, more than 2700 state homes were built in Cannons Creek and Porirua East.

At one time the area had the highest number of state houses.

The first renewed state home will be ready in 2019.