A vacant section of unused Hastings District Council land that has been sitting idle in Flaxmere is about to become a building site for much-needed housing.

In 2018, council started considering what could be done with the 1.8ha piece of land, particularly the potential for it to be used for housing.

This week, work will begin on the development, which comprises 17 houses and two lots have been put aside for 18 social/transitional houses.

The land sits between Flaxmere Ave, Kirkwood Rd and Tarbet St, and this council project is the first of a number of housing initiatives to get underway across the district to address the housing needs of the community.

Over the last year a key focus has been on facilitating and enabling the provision of homes for Hastings people, and this has been supported by Central Government investment towards more housing in Hastings.

Council has continued to work with a variety of agencies, including Kainga Ora, Te Puni Kokiri and Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga to progress housing consents.

Across the district sites are being investigated for a mix of social/transitional housing, affordable homes, and conventional homes.

During the year construction began on the Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga Waingakau housing project in Flaxmere, an initiative that is a collaborative partnership with council.

Although activity slowed down during the COVID-19 crisis, work has continued on freeing up appropriate land for greenfield residential subdivision and infill development across the district.

To help protect the district’s fertile growing soils, this year saw a variation made to the proposed Hastings District Plan to make it easier to build residential units in the inner city.

Another variation to the district plan also occurred to provide for the increasing accommodation needs of seasonal workers in the district, allowing for worker accommodation to be built in the light industrial and general industrial zones at Omahu and Irongate.

Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said Council was focused on providing homes for our people and working hard on providing long-term housing solutions for the community – especially those families living in motels or struggling to find emergency accommodation.

“We are working with the likes of Kainga Ora to provide transitional/emergency housing, to provide affordable housing, and to free up appropriate land to build other conventional housing.

“Getting the Tarbet St subdivision underway is a major milestone and we will remain focused on progressing other developments in the coming months.”

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