‘Unique’ purchase sees Kāinga Ora buy $20m, 27-unit property in north Hamilton

A $20m block of northeast Hamilton homes will become public housing, with the first tenants moving in over the next couple of months.

Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities is in the final stages of purchasing the new build at 45 Borman Road, Huntington, comprising 20 three-bedroom homes and seven two-bedroom homes.

It’s the biggest sale the real estate concerned has ever made, taking months to come together, and Kāinga Ora says the move will help get families out of unstable living conditions.

“This is an opportunity to have an immediate and meaningful impact on the community by increasing the number of homes to get more whānau out of unstable living conditions and into a warm, dry and safe place to call home,” says Mark Rawson, Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities regional director Waikato.

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“These homes are good news for providing more much-needed homes for people and families in need.”

Emerge Aotearoa, a housing and support services provider contracted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, will mange and maintain the houses.

It will also ensure people and families living there were well-supported, Rawson said.

“Once residents move in, Emerge Aotearoa will be the main point of contact for residents and the community. Closer to the time, they will be in touch to let the community know how to contact them.”

The sale of 27 units was the biggest in Harcourt Hamilton City sales consultant Yvenna Yue’s career.

“We sold another block of 20 units, ages ago, in two stages – one to Auckland investors who resold them and the other lot to someone else, but we never had someone buy the whole block, so it is quite unique.”

Apex Property Group purchased the 6696sqm land in 2020 for $3m and the construction began in 2021.

“For the smaller ones of 110sqm, we priced them at $799,000… the bigger ones are 120-130sqm.

“[The buyer] had a discount on the entire lot, but we are still very happy, and for the market price.”

“We took almost two months to get this deal together… but before that we tried about three months with them, and they said it was too big for them and wanted something smaller.”

Yue said they were also trying other buyers at the same time – an Auckland investor gave up when interest rates started climbing up and individual offers did not fall through.

Mayor Paula Southgate welcomed the news, saying it was imperative to reduce the number of people living in emergency motel housing situations for the “wellbeing of our communities, particularly our most vulnerable”.

Good quality housing is a basic human right that all people should have in their time of need, she said.

Stuff recently reported that Hamilton had been granted more money for emergency housing than any other district ($23m), while Auckland sat at just over $20 million.

More than 24,000 people were on the housing register as of September and Hamilton had 720 emergency housing “households” throughout the city.

“As part of the government’s Emergency Housing Review, locally appropriate emergency housing and alternative housing options will be investigated for Hamilton and Wellington,” MSD Waikato Regional Commissioner, Te Rehia Papesch said.

“We understand motels are not always ideal for families with children, but it is extremely important to us that whānau are not left to sleep rough or in cars.”