Kāinga Ora fails on accessibility targets

A Kā inga Ora tenant is ‘‘appalled’’ the government agency is not meeting its target for 15% of its new-build state homes to meet full universal design standards.

Information provided under the Official Information Act (OIA) reveals that since implementing its accessibility policy in 2020, the government agency has recorded delivering 70 new homes that meet full universal design standards between July 2020 and December 2022.

The total number of Kāinga Ora homes built in the same timeframe is 4775, which means 1.5% of its new homes meet the required standards.

In its accessibility policy launched in 2020, Kā inga Ora committed to ensuring at least 15% of new-build public housing met full universal design standards. Universal design is the design of a space that can be accessed and used by the greatest number of people. When the policy was approved in September 2019, a two-year lead-in time was agreed to allow for the development of full universal design standards, from instruction through to delivery of homes.

The agency was expected to achieve that 15% target by July 2022, the policy stated.

An additional 646 of the completed 4775 homes would have had to meet universal design standards by December 2022 for this goal to have been achieved.

Kāinga Ora tenant Allyson Hamblett said she was ‘‘appalled’’ the agency was not meeting its accessibility target.

‘‘When you consider disabled people make up 24% of the population, 15% does not make sense,’’ said Hamblett, who has cerebral palsy and uses a walking frame. ‘‘Kā inga Ora needs to think about disabled people, the ageing population, and young families who use pushchairs and prams.’’

In its OIA response, Kāinga Ora’s general manager for national services, Nick Maling, said the agency had ‘‘not been immune to the external challenges facing the construction sector’’ and blamed interruptions on the effects of Covid lockdowns.

Maling also said site typology did not always allow for property designs to meet full universal design. In the 2021/22 period, Kā inga Ora delivered 134 homes that reached 80% or more of the full universal design standard.

And as of December 31, 2022, Kāinga Ora had more than 450 homes ‘‘in our pipeline actively targeting this standard’’.