Victor Luca

In her Beacon letter of August 13, Bec Mackay says “we deserve better” and then slags me off for saying I found the cancellation of 80 Kainga Ora to be “quite upsetting”. That is true, I do find it upsetting. She then quotes me as saying that “It’s a bit disappointing, but that’s above my pay grade.” That is also accurate.

I try not to respond to every person who wants to take a pot-shot at me. Were that the case, I'd get nothing done. However, I do take umbrage to folk offering uninformed opinions that may mislead others in the community. To avoid this, I feel compelled to make an exception in this case.

Kāinga Ora is the central government agency charged with providing social housing. I have been interacting with Kāinga Ora for much of my term as mayor. Until last year, the agency had plans to replace each of the 500 dwellings it owns in Whakatāne with three new dwellings. This could potentially have resulted in an additional 1000 new homes.  For various reasons, the current Government decided to clip Kāinga Ora’s wings. That has all played out in the media.

Most folk are aware that councils stopped providing social housing decades ago. However, that doesn't mean that councils don't have a role to play. Under legislation councils must provide land for housing and other uses. Councils are also critical players in the provision of infrastructure and are consenting authorities. In other words, council's job is to facilitate housing which is what I have been involved in.

I have been on a mission to find ways of filling some of the empty blocks in our town after Kāinga Ora’s building programme was halted. In my opinion, intensification in Whakatāne is the obvious first step to increasing the housing stock in Whakatāne ahead of green-fields development which is harder given the need to build out infrastructure. It also seems obvious that we can build higher; two to four levels. For some time, I have been engaging with developers with a view to filling some of those empty blocks. I'll leave at that for now.

If Ms Mackay wants to know what I have been doing regarding housing, then all she needed to do was pick up a phone or come to see me and I would have be happy to help her get better informed.