The Creek is all good
Porirua's Cannons Creek is a suburb tipped for change, whether that's a good thing depends on who you ask, reports Virginia Fallon.
What does $1.5 billion worth of change mean to a suburb?
As the residents of one of the region’s most notorious neighbourhoods mull their future, one teenager talks about his present in the place he loves.
It might be against a backdrop of looming transformation but, for him, life right now is all about kicking back – you just have to watch your back.
Following last month’s suburbchanging announcement by the Government, Virginia Fallon and
Ross Giblin joined the 13-year-old for an indepth look at his life and community. It’s a place he’d recommend to anyone.
Meet Taiti Ahiao and his home of Cannons Creek.
‘‘My name is Taiti Ahiao and I’m 13 years old.
‘‘I was named after my uncle who died a month before I was born. When he passed away, my grandma asked Mum to give me to her because she wanted another baby.
‘‘I’m proud to be from the Creek, it’s a good spot to just kick back and relax, you just have to be careful.
‘‘Me and my friends just try to laugh as much as we can.’’
Ask the locals what needs to change in Cannons Creek and chances are you’ll hear the same thing. Some will say it’s the area’s crime rate and others the beggars outside shops.
But even if there’s a list of varying wishes, it will likely begin or end with the big suburb’s big ticket item – the houses, always the houses.
Now, at last, the state houses in Porirua City’s east are tipped for change.
Long a backdrop for opposition MPs and community groups calling for better housing, the properties are part of a $1.5 billion revitalisation project announced by the Government last month.
Over the next 25 years, the plan will see 2000 state homes upgraded and 2500 KiwiBuild properties – the Government’s affordable homes scheme – built and sold to private buyers. Locals will get first dibs, with the first expected to be ready in 2020.
The price would be known once designs and contracts were finalised but the Porirua development land was relatively inexpensive, which would help make the homes more affordable, a KiwiBuild spokesman said.
‘‘The average house price in Porirua is $571,000, compared to the KiwiBuild price cap outside of Auckland and Queenstown Lakes of $500,000.’’
The average Porirua weekly rent of $504 was similar to repayments on a $450,000, 30-year mortgage at current rates, he said.
There will be 150 new state homes built. The current waiting list stands at 303 applicants.
‘‘I live with my grandparents that I call Mum and Dad, my great-grandma, my aunty, my uncle and my other uncle. My family’s great, really supportive. ‘‘I have some cousins so our house is where we celebrate birthdays, there’s a lot of cleaning. It’s a happy house.’’
Named for the stream that runs through it, Cannons Creek is known as the Creek to locals. The suburb’s state houses were built during the 1960s and 70s, the farmland they sprang from was a cheap buy for the government, state housing expert Bill McKay said.
‘‘You’ll see that all over the country, state houses built on hills and in gullies.’’
Earlier, higher-quality builds in the region had responded to the post-World War II housing shortage for low-income workers but Porirua was different.
‘‘It became more about welfare housing and we really lost the plot. Porirua became notorious for the poor quality of everything, the houses were built of pine, hardboard and fibre cement cladding.
‘‘They all looked the same, we crammed them together and didn’t focus on community facilities and – surprise, surprise – there were problems.’’
The homes were poorly planned and unsuitable for the large Pasifika and Ma¯ ori families they would house; it was a form of social engineering forcing people to live like Pa¯ keha¯ . The result was crime, poor health and a disenfranchised community.
‘‘You can’t blame the people when it was us that made them live like that.’’ ‘‘I’d like to see less kids on the Creek streets and less people stealing but I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Sometimes it’s scary but if you know everyone around the Creek it’s less scary. ‘‘The creek has treated me fairly well, it’s been a good place for my family, I’d recommend it.’’
With Pasifika people making up 60 per cent of its population, the Creek is the Wellington region’s own Pacific Islands in miniature, a study in hardship and resilience.
The Deprivation Index lists the Creek and neighbouring Waitangirua as the poorest suburbs in the Wellington region. But for Izzy Ford, the area’s economics weren’t something she was aware of growing up, it was just home.
Now Porirua’s deputy mayor, Ford’s parents came from the Islands in the 1960s and met at a Samoan dance in Petone before building a home in the suburb.
‘‘A lot of Pacific people were coming to Porirua because it was cheaper housing and they would send money back home, they still do that today.’’
The rejuvenation project was welcome but there were worries about its effect on the community and Ford was determined to see Pacific people in their own homes. She was confident in the Government’s vow of first dibs for locals.
‘‘We’ll hold them to task so they keep to what they’ve promised.’’
Ultimately, decisions about the Creek had to be made by the people who lived there. After all, there was nowhere else like it.
‘‘There are more Tokelauans in Porirua than there are in Tokelau itself, it’s the heart and soul of Pasifika.’’
‘‘Everyone else who doesn’t live here thinks of it as a horrible spot for children but it’s not, really it’s good. A lot of people dislike the Creek because of the way it used to be. Drugs, alcohol, gangs, things that happened in the past.
‘‘Gangs are still around but most gang members see it as a place they live and want their children to grow up in. They want their children to have a better life than they did.’’
Kris Faafoi grew up in a state house, something that he says drove home the importance of stable, decent accommodation for New Zealanders.
Now a minister in the Labour Government, the Creek was Faafoi’s election stomping ground, much of his time in Opposition spent advocating for people in the suburb’s decrepit houses.
The regeneration project was overdue but would need careful balancing. Concerns about gentrification were fair enough given past mistakes, he said.
Some second and third generations of Creek residents were on the brink of home ownership but a lack of local, affordable homes was one of the barriers in their way. Giving them first crack at the new homes was key to maintaining the suburb’s integrity.
‘‘If they do want to buy a home they don’t want to go very far, the Creek is the anchor for them, they want to be close to their families and close to where they grew up.
‘‘People need to know the detail and ensure they know it’s their project and not something being imposed on the Creek.’’
‘‘You have to be careful of going the wrong way in life. There’s different things that happen around the Creek and you can end up being a really successful person or you can end up living on the streets.
‘‘A lot of things are changing, people are changing, lifestyles are changing and if we keep doing what we’re doing things will get better.’’
The Creek and its streets were named after Pa¯ keha¯ , but the land belonged to Ma¯ ori until about 1840, Nga¯ ti Toa Rangatira spokesman Matiu Rei said. Now, Ma¯ ori make up 23 per cent of the population.
‘‘It was taken just after the Treaty of Waitangi, that’s how we lost it and the first people allocated it were from the forces, the army.’’
The rejuvenation project was well overdue but it wasn’t just about housing: the area’s commercial sector needed work to entice people to the area and there were social and cultural needs to be addressed.
While gentrification could be an issue, the area would change regardless, Rei said.
‘‘As people stay there they are changing as well. We’re coming to