Tāmaki Housing Group Occupy New Houses

Early this morning state housing tenants and their supporters occupied the new houses being built under the Northern Glen Innes Redevelopment on Apirana Avenue to disrupt the 2pm open home that was set for this afternoon.

The new homes being built in Glen Innes by one of the development company, Creating Communities, are mixed tenure. This means that there is a mix of social, affordable and private houses, however, with an overall reduction in state houses.

In order to make way for these new homes, long-standing Glen Innes residents were evicted from their homes. The house which is currently being occupied is expected to sell for over $600,000 - far out of the price bracket of many Glen Innes tenants.

Because of this, the Tāmaki Housing Group believe that these new homes should all be state houses – to house current families, as well as those that have been evicted and displaced because of the redevelopment.

Private developers are profiting from increasing land values in Glen Innes and are building ‘affordable’ housing in close proximity to the city at prices ranging from $600,000-$800,000.

The current tenants are being evicted so that the middle-class can be housed close to the city. Tāmaki Housing Group believe that the community belongs to the people that have lived and built it through collective histories and struggle.

Building private housing and removing state housing has caused a rapid increase in land values which means that both state and rental tenants are going to be priced out of their communities.

Tāmaki Housing Group demand that these houses be given to state housing tenants and to stop the current redevelopment process which benefits private developers not the community that is being destroyed.

ENDS

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