Ngatiapa Street homes to come down within weeks after years of vacancy and stalled plans
Kāinga Ora will demolish vacant state housing on Wellington's Ngatiapa Street within weeks, the agency has confirmed, as residents in the capital's Strathmore Park continue to demand answers over years of vacancy across two sites earmarked for redevelopment.
Kāinga Ora points to sale, demolition plans
Kāinga Ora regional director for Wellington Sarah Willson said the agency was working on options behind the scenes. Willson said Nuku Street was now going through a first right of refusal process with Taranaki Whanui following a decision to sell, while the Ngatiapa Street houses will be demolished within weeks. A "preferred option" for redeveloping Ngatiapa Street for social housing has been identified but not yet finalised.
Years of vacancy, little visible progress
An Official Information Act response obtained by RNZ showed some units on the two streets had been empty for six years. Kāinga Ora said residents moved out gradually as redevelopment plans took shape, with the last tenants leaving in 2024, but the sites have remained boarded up since.
A planned 39-home development on Nuku Street was shelved last year amid a nationwide review of Kāinga Ora's building programme tied to a government-ordered financial reset. A larger project on Ngatiapa Street, originally set for 49 homes according to information sheets provided to residents at the time (though Kāinga Ora later referred to 50), plus a community room and carparks, was due to begin in late 2024 but has not proceeded.
Strathmore Park Residents' Association president Karl Frost described the empty streets as "derelict," saying the area could feel like "some kind of dystopian, post-apocalypse movie." Neighbouring resident Lizzie Pringle said the sites were "so close to being built," while local councillor Jonny Osborne called the delay "incredibly frustrating," given the scale of unmet housing need.
Waitlist numbers add pressure
Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport figures from late May showed 804 people on Wellington's social housing and transfer waitlist. Kāinga Ora confirmed 187 homes in the Rongotai electorate have been placed on hold since December 2023.
The two vacant sites also sit against a weak Wellington market, with values among the softest of the main centres over the past year — a downturn one economist frames as structural, following years of inflated demand from the film industry and public-sector spending that has since unwound.
Frost said he hoped the street would not stay empty much longer. "There could be life here, there could be people here."
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