{"id":528529,"date":"2026-07-16T06:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/528529\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T06:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:18:10","slug":"so-depressing-residents-push-for-answers-over-wellington-ghost-houses-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/528529\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018So depressing\u2019: Residents push for answers over Wellington ghost houses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neighbours are questioning why a block of state houses in an otherwise lively suburb has been sitting vacant for so long.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

Karl Frost sighs as he walks towards a shuttered grey housing block on a desolate Wellington cul-de-sac.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just \u2026 it\u2019s depressing, it really is \u2013 it\u2019s so depressing when you see the state of things and you knew it was so close, so close.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s staring at three boarded-up blocks of Kainga Ora homes on the entirely empty Ngatiapa Street. Windows cracked or smashed, white paint slapped over graffiti, external pipes starting to \u201cfall off the sides of the building\u201d \u2013 Frost describes the street as \u201cderelict\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just completely out of place, given generally how lively this suburb is, the number of people, and then you\u2019ve suddenly you\u2019ve got this street which is derelict, it\u2019s empty, there\u2019s no one here.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could turn down to Ngatiapa and feel like you\u2019re in some kind of dystopian, post-apocalypse movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only sign of life is someone fixing a security camera, one of three Kainga Ora installed to monitor suspicious activity and rubbish dumping onsite, he said.<\/p>\n

Frost, who is president of Strathmore Park Residents\u2019 Association, is among residents in the Wellington suburb pushing for answers over two areas in the suburb where blocks of state housing have been vacant for years.<\/p>\n

\"\"Strathmore Park Residents\u2019 Association president Karl Frost. (Photo: RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald)<\/p>\n

One planned development of 39 new homes on the nearby Nuku Street was canned last year as Kainga Ora conducted a nationwide review of social housing projects<\/a> due to a government-ordered financial re-set. Another large development of 49 new homes mostly based at Ngatiapa Street, with a community room, and 51 carparks, was set to get underway in late 2024, according to information sheets provided to residents at the time.<\/p>\n

Kainga Ora said people moved out gradually from blocks on both streets due to the development plans, with the last residents leaving in 2024. But an Official Information Act response from the agency, which RNZ has seen, showed some units on Nuku Street and Ngatiapa Street had been empty for six years now.<\/p>\n

Neighbouring resident Lizzie Pringle said she had spent years looking at the empty buildings, and had been looking forward to the development. \u201cIt was so close to being built, and council resource had been sought, and it was 49 houses: two, three, four, five bedrooms, a community room, shared garden spaces, heaps of car-parks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pringle said Strathmore was a diverse community and she wanted to see the land turned into more social housing. \u201cLots of different people live here and I think that\u2019s the strength of the community \u2026 but when you drive past this street it\u2019s just empty and sad. People aren\u2019t proud when it\u2019s just empty streets and boarded up buildings and a really easy place to dump your rubbish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Blocks of state houses in Strathmore have been vacant for years. (Photo: RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald)<\/p>\n

Fellow neighbour Gek McGregor said she\u2019d prefer the land be developed on the private market, instead of social housing \u2013 but she didn\u2019t want it empty either. \u201cA waste of resources isn\u2019t it \u2013 I mean that is prime land \u2013 if you go over there, all day sun, fantastic sea views over the airport. It\u2019s the perfect place for families to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numbers from the Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport from late May show 804 people on the social housing and transfer waitlist for Wellington. That\u2019s a drop of 130 people from June 2023. Kainga Ora said since December 2023, 187 homes in the Rongotai electorate had been put on hold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wellington City councillor for Motukairangi-Eastern Ward Jonny Osborne said the land could be put to good use. \u201cI think it\u2019s incredibly frustrating, that the government \u2013 despite on its own social housing waitlist having hundreds and hundreds of people that need a warm, dry home \u2013 and having plans to invest and develop these properties \u2013 has just sat on its hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Work going on behind the scenes\u2019 \u2013 Kainga Ora<\/p>\n

Kainga Ora declined an interview with RNZ.<\/p>\n

In a statement, regional director for Wellington Sarah Willson said she understood neighbours were frustrated, but work was going on behind the scenes. Willson said she couldn\u2019t reveal the original cost of the Nuku Street and Ngatiapa developments due to commercial sensitivities.<\/p>\n

Kainga Ora decided to sell the Nuku Street flats following a review of its building programme, she said, and was currently in a first right of refusal process with Taranaki Whanui.<\/p>\n

Kainga Ora would demolish the houses in Ngatiapa Street in the coming weeks, Willson said.<\/p>\n

\"\"A building on Ngatiapa Street. (Photo: RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald)<\/p>\n

While the original plans for 50 new homes wouldn\u2019t go ahead, Kainga Ora was still intending to deliver social housing on the street. A \u201cpreferred option\u201d had been decided on, but while decisions were \u201cbeing finalised it would be premature to discuss details\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been considering options for re-developing the site for social housing, but we are not yet in a position to discuss our preferred plan publicly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a long-term decision, that will shape the future of this large, complex site for decades to come \u2013 so it\u2019s important we take the time to get it right, rather than rush the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willson said Kainga Ora was regularly monitoring the site and was committed to keeping the area safe. She said the agency would share more information as soon as it was able.<\/p>\n

Karl Frost said he hoped the street was not empty for much longer. \u201cFrom a community point of view, it\u2019s demoralising to have a derelict site here \u2026 not just the fact that it could be full of houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there could be life here, there could be people here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neighbours are questioning why a block of state houses in an otherwise lively suburb has been sitting vacant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,261018,111,139,69,212417,2935,52],"class_list":["post-528529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-kainga-ora","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rnz-content","tag-society","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}