Boost from infrastructure fund will be ‘transformational’ for small Kāpiti Coast town – صحيفة الصوت

A $29.2 million contribution for infrastructure that will enable more than 1000 new houses and papakāinga homes to be built in Ōtaki has been hailed as “transformational” by the Kāpiti Coast’s mayor.

The funding was part of an announcement by Housing Minister Megan Woods last Thursday, which allocated $179m from the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund to seven regional centres.

The funding for Ōtaki, which was applied for jointly by the Kāpiti Coast District Council, iwi and private developers, would go towards upgrading water and roading infrastructure on Māori-owned land and surplus land near the Ōtaki Māori Racing Club.

It would enable the construction of 1042 new houses and papakāinga homes and increase the total number of dwellings in Ōtaki by 60 percent over the next decade.

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Mayor K Gurunathan said the money would be “transformational” for the region.

“[It] is increasing overcrowding in households … [and] pushing the poorer families out of the district up north,” he said. “I know for instance that students are pushed out … so they cannot continue their education.”

“The new infrastructure will increase capacity for further development in the future and provide improved drinking, waste and storm water resiliency for existing residents.”

Mana whenua Ngā Hapū o Ōtaki said in statement that providing suitable homes and communities will bring many benefits and change for whānau.

“We need iwi-led solutions to fulfil housing aspirations and care for te taiao [environment],” the statement said. “Many are being displaced out of the town, losing connections to critical support networks, hapū, and marae.”

Ōtaki is the worst place for housing affordability in the Kāpiti Coast District, with a housing assessment this May found only 20% of renters in the town could afford median market rent while 28% of renters spent over half their income on housing.

The district council’s long-term plan in 2021 forecast the Kāpiti Coast would need about 14,000 homes in the next three decades to house at least 32,000 more people.

District councillor Gwynn Compton welcomed the infrastructure funding but wants the Government to also pay $360m for new trains and upgrade commuter railway lines to keep up with rapid population growth.

“The Government’s continued refusal to fund the urgently needed commuter rail infrastructure for commuters north of Waikanae remains inexplicable, especially when much of the new development in Ōtaki will take place within easy walking distance of the railway station,” he said.